Le Choc (Blu-ray Review)
Director
Robin DavisRelease Date(s)
1982 (August 11, 2026)Studio(s)
Sara Films/T. Films/UGC Distribution (Kino Lorber Studio Classics)- Film/Program Grade: A-
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: B-
Review
The powerhouse pairing of stars Alain Delon and Catherine Deneuve wasn’t enough help Le Choc (“The Shock,” 1982) with critics or at the box-office. What should have been one of the top three or so attractions in France that year underperformed, finishing in 23rd position, and many French film critics hated it. Writer Pierre Murat would later describe this very loose adaptation of his novel La Position du tireur couché (“The Prone Shooting Position”) “catastrophic.” Critic Serge Daney called it “rubbish.”
I, on the other hand, pretty much loved it. The movie revolves around a premise explored myriad times before—a disillusioned hitman wants to retire but the criminal underworld that has employed him won’t allow it—variations of which date back at least to the seminal Hollywood Western The Gunfighter (1950). In some respects, the film is like a slickly-done throwback to movies Delon and Deneuve made 15 years earlier. Scenes throughout Le Choc remind viewers of earlier movies with Delon or Deneuve with similar moments: Delon in many films (Le Samourai, Le Cercle Rouge, the rural France setting of The Burned Barns), Deneuve in Truffaut’s Mississippi Mermaid, etc. Yet Le Choc proves an ideal, completely engrossing vehicle for both stars, especially Delon, who once again plays off his image as a dangerous, unpredictably violent antihero, outwardly coldhearted but with a softer side peeking out ever so slightly. Despite its overly-familiar premise, the film has its share of surprises and even shocking moments. The characters, including many supporting ones, are colorful and amusing, and the cinematography and production design are excellent.
Expert career hitman Martin Terrier (Delon) successfully (if improbably) assassinates a target in Morocco. (It seems to have been filmed in the same locales used in Hitchcock’s 1956 The Man Who Knew Too Much.) Back in France, he tells his boss, Cox (François Perrot) that he’s quitting, he’s retiring. Cox, already lining up Martin’s next assignment, is none too happy to hear this, promises him more money and flatly refuses to accept his resignation. Knowing Cox’s organization will send hitmen after him (and his money), Martin decides to hide out in Brittany, at a turkey farm (!) where his ex-wife and financial manager, Jeanne (Stéphane Audran), has invested much of Martin’s ill-gotten gain.
The turkey farm is run by Claire (Deneuve) and her husband, Félix (Phillippe Léotard), but he’s an abusive alcoholic, leaving her to do all the work while taking a lot of emotional abuse from Félix at night. He leaves in a drunken stupor and Claire and Martin become instant lovers. After a few days, in a surprising twist, German terrorists suddenly turn up, they wanting to avenge their leader, assassinated by Martin years before. After much alarming violence, Martin and Claire flee to Paris, but how long will they be able to evade both the police and Cox’s torpedoes?
Some French critics hated Le Choc to the point of ridiculing it, as if it were a French Howard the Duck or Showgirls, a baffling reaction to the film in retrospect. Maybe they saw it as hopelessly old-fashioned, such as the manner in which Martin and Claire are instantly drawn to one another, or maybe they found the film’s reworking of crime genre tropes unimaginative. But what’s not to like? Delon’s reticent, cool and emotionally detached, unpredictable assassin is precisely the kind of part he most excelled at, and to see this character, however slightly, bend to Claire’s vulnerability and desperation (and Deneuve’s beauty) has a kind of heightened movie realism, a highly improbable romance in real-world terms, but driven by the extreme circumstances of the narrative, one can easily suspend disbelief.
The screenplay, by director Robin Davis, Delon, Dominique Robelet, and Claude Veillot, keeps viewers riveted because the film frequently and often unexpectedly turns violent, and because all the film’s characters are fleshed-out eccentrics, always interesting. Martin’s money manager, Jeanne, for instance, is a kind of animal hoarder, working out of a menagerie of an office, filled with cats, birds, and wild animals.
When Martin first meets Claire, she talks about how devoted and happy she and her husband are, but over dinner later that evening, Félix turns out to be a monster, blasting jazz records that drown out their conversation, drunkenly ordering his wife about, openly insulting her in front of Martin. The following day, when Félix in a fit of rage messes about with the turkeys, she becomes so exasperated that she hops into their car, madly drives off, overturning her vehicle on the beach. These scenes get to the emotional truth of their unhappy marriage very efficiently. One clever bit of writing has Claire explaining to Martin that ramblin’ Félix, already bored with the turkey farm, now wants to become a tour guide in Tibet, a place he’s never been to.
Different from Delon’s earlier crime films is the level of graphic violence, which is ghoulish and sometimes darkly funny, but which never goes overboard. Deneuve reportedly clashed with director Davis, to the point where Delon stepped in and directed many of her scenes, though to what extent is imperceptible in the finished product.
Kino’s Blu-ray of Le Choc, licensed from StudioCanal, offers a fine 1080p encoding in 1.66:1 widescreen. The video transfer is essentially flawless, with excellent detail, accurate color, good blacks and contrast throughout. The DTS-HD Master Audio (2.0 mono), in French only, is likewise good, supported by optional English subtitles. The disc itself is Region “A” encoded.
Extras are limited to a French trailer and a new audio commentary track by entertainment journalists Bryan Reesman and Talia Soghomonian.
Le Choc is a very pleasant surprise, far better than this critic was expecting, an engrossing, well-written, directed, and acted crime-romantic melodrama featuring two of France’s greatest stars. Highly recommended.
- Stuart Galbraith IV