Les Bonnes causes (1963)

Paul Dupré dies at the hands of his nurse Gina Bianchi when she administers his daily injection. His wife Catherine accuses the nurse of murdering her husband but Gina insists that she is innocent. Realising she too is a suspect, Catherine asks her lawyer, Charles Cassidi, to defend her as Judge Albert Gaudet starts his enquiry into the case. When it transpires that Paul Dupré made a will leaving his entire estate to Gina, Cassidi is confident he has a strong case. However, Judge Gaudet remains sceptical.

Between two lavish period films - Madame Sans-Gêne (1962) and La Tulipe noire (1963) - Christian-Jaque made an altogether different kind of film, a serious crime-drama which, on the face of it, appears to be an outright spoof of the conscience-stirring efforts that André Cayatte had begun to churn out as part of a sustained campaign to expose the failings of the French judicial system. Adapted from a novel of the same title by the journalist-author Jean Laborde, Les Bonnes causes certainly has its feet set in Cayatte territory but Christian-Jaque manages to impose his own voice on the narrative and give it a dark and sinister feel, very different in tone from the boisterous crowd-pleasers that dominated the last phase of his busy career.

From the opening murder scene to the gripping conclusion, the spectator is hooked as the film wends its way across some very bleak and unsettling terrain, providing as it does a sobering reflection on the power of manipulation used by unscrupulous lawyers to secure an unfair legal victory. The compelling judicial duel that it depicts between an investigating judge and a driven lawyer reminds us that, in a criminal case, what matters is not the facts nor the events but the meaning attached to them. In the hands of an experienced lawyer, truth can be as malleable as wet putty, easily moulded into a noose to hang the innocent.

Les Bonnes causes is not a whodunit (the real culprit is revealed to us at the start of the film) but more an astute blend of suspense drama and social commentary which follows the merciless and inexorable progress of a two-tier justice system that is inherently biased in favour of the better off. Henri Jeanson's customarily sharp dialogue adds lustre to a well-crafted script and Georges Garvarentz's moody score helps to sustain the film's atmosphere and tension.

Heading a prestigious cast is Bourvil in one of his most convincing dramatic roles as the humane judge Albert Gaudet. Pierre Brasseur makes a superb contrast as the cynical and untrustworthy lawyer Charles Cassidi, leaving us in no doubt that, even in the twilight of his career, he was still a force to be reckoned with. Having shone in Michel Deville's Adorable menteuse (1962), Marina Vlady is perfect for the role of Catherine Dupré, the victim's wife and obnoxious instigator of this murky judicial chronicle.

An Italian film goddess who enjoyed international fame in the 1960s (she famously turned down the lead in Roger Vadim's Barbarella and the role of Bond girl in From Russia with Love ), Virna Lisi is a surprising but effective choice for the part of the fragile nurse Gina Bianchi who becomes the victim of the flawed French legal machine. Italian actor Umberto Orsini acquits himself admirably as the devoted defence lawyer Philliet, amid a distinguished supporting cast that includes Hubert Deschamps, Jacques Monod, Hubert Noël and José-Luis de Villalonga.

By the 1960s, critics were quick to condemn Christian-Jaque when his films failed to match up to the quality of his earlier successes. Like many of his contemporaries he was frequently labelled démodé. tired and irrelevant, at a time when the Young Turks of the French New Wave were stealing all the thunder and chaotically re-writing the cinematic rule book. Whilst much of Christian-Jaque's later films are overlooked (and in some cases rightfully so) there are a few that are well worth seeing - Les Bonnes causes and Le Repas des fauves (1964) being prime examples of this - as they evoke the pessimism and compassion of the director's earlier classics, Boule de suif (1945) and Un revenant (1946). Despite its gloomy subject matter Les Bonnes causes was a notable box office hit, attracting an audience of 1.7 million in France - a sign that whilst the critics had lost faith with Christian-Jaque, French cinemagoers had not.

© Willems Henri (Brussels, Belgium) 2013

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Next Christian-Jaque film:
La Tulipe noire (1964)

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