Without Apparent Motive (Blu-ray Review)
Director
Philippe LabroRelease Date(s)
1971 (July 28, 2026)Studio(s)
Cinétel/Président Films/Euro International Film/Valoria Films (Vinegar Syndrome Labs)- Film/Program Grade: A-
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: A
Review
An excellent French thriller, Without Apparent Motive (Sans mobile apparent, 1971) is adapted from Ed McBain’s (Evan Hunter’s) 1963 novel Ten Plus One, his 17th of 55 “87th Precinct” books, the same series from whence Kurosawa’s High and Low sprang. In the movie, Jean-Louis Trintignant plays police detective Stéphane Carella, Frenchifying the name of McBain’s hero, Steve Carella, played in the 1961-62 87th Precinct TV series by Robert Lansing (and, effectively, by Tatsuya Nakadai in Kurosawa’s film).
In Nice, Carella mulls rekindling a romance with old flame Jocelyne (Carla Gravina), but that’s put on hold when the city is rocked by a series of seemingly random, daily assassinations—men and women murdered by single sniper shots fired from a long-range .22 rifle. The first victim is a prominent businessman but, according to the victim’s wife and stepdaughter, Sandra (Dominique Sanda), with whom Carella had dealings before, the murdered man had no enemies, though she mentions an associate killed later that same day, and soon after a famous astrologer is murdered. Though the various victims are linked to money laundering and prostitution, nothing definitively connects them except, possibly, a play being staged by director Francis Palombo (Paul Crauchet, of Army of Shadows and other great French films), a production featuring Sandra is the leading role.
Though not quite in the top-tier of such films, Without Apparent Motive exemplifies a genre that, in the English-speaking world, has unjustly been rather ignored in favor, in recent decades, of Italy’s giallo films. But where those films rely heavily on stylized visuals and plot twists, concurrent French thrillers tend to be more character-driven and realistic but no less valid and, often, better.
A French-Italian coproduction, the film is first-class all the way. Besides Trintignant, Sanda, and Crauchet, its cast includes Jean-Pierre Marielle and Laura Antonelli in pivotal roles, and features a famous score by Ennio Morricone. Director (and author and journalist) Philippe Labro (1936-2025) co-wrote the film with Jacques Lanzmann, fleshing out the characters from McBain’s novel, adding little eccentricities, like Carella’s obsessive hand-washing, while Trintignant’s nuanced performance, saying little but observing much, manipulating even Jocelyne with poker-faced precision, is riveting.
There are wonderful character vignettes throughout, in fact, particularly the odd, psychologically unhealthy husband-wife relationship between big, balding Englishman Perry Rupert Foote (Marielle, who’s about as French as actors come, but no matter) and his much younger, beautiful bride Juliette (Antonelli), is unsettling without ever becoming graphic and unpleasant. Likewise, the murders are nearly bloodless, less realistic than perhaps they should be in order to shock the movie audience to the same degree as, apparently, all of Nice. Nice itself becomes almost another character in the film, the sunny, idyllic locations well-chosen and all visually interesting.
Vinegar Syndrome’s Blu-ray of Without Apparent Motive is an excellent encoding of the film, supplied by licensor StudioCanal. A Region “A” disc, the film is presented in its original 1.66:1 widescreen, and appears derived from the original camera negative as the image is impressively sharp and the colors rich throughout. The DTS-HD Master Audio (2.0 French mono only) is also strong, as are the newly-translated optional English subtitles.
The extra features are very good, consisting of a 2018 interview with director Labro, running 51 minutes; The Uncredited Rémoleux, an odd but fascinating 38-minute piece focusing on uncredited bit player Jean-Claude Rémoleux, hosted by Christophe Bier.
Without Apparent Motive is a film best experienced knowing nothing about it going in, hence this review’s mostly unrevealing plot synopsis and description of its assets. But it’s a very good French thriller and a most welcome release from Vinegar Syndrome. Highly Recommended.
- Stuart Galbraith IV