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| Images courtesy of Radiance Films |
French actor-writer-producer-director Claude Berri who
served as a producer on many renowned projects by European filmmakers including
Roman Polanski’s Tess and Jacques Demy’s Three Seats for the 26th
was thirteen films into his directorial tenure by the time he arrived upon the 1983
Cesar Award winning box office hit Tchao Pantin or So Long, Stooge. A crime drama of heart and passion spoken of
the same breath as Mean Streets with the racial politics of Dupont
Lajoie, Tchao Pantin based on the novel by Alain Page written for
the screen and directed by Berri is perhaps best remembered as a star vehicle
for stage-actor Michel Gerard Joseph Colucci under his stage name Coluche who
won the Best Actor award in this still powerful if not timeless crime drama.
In a decrepit Parisian petrol station sits manager Lambert (Coluche),
a depressed rum drinker devoid of friends or family works the night shift when
an equally lonesome young Arabic drug pusher named Bensoussan (Richard Anconina)
happens upon his shop and the two quickly form a friendship. Over time Lambert sort of looks onto the
youth who forms a fleeting fling with punk rocker girl Lola (Agnes Soral) but Bensoussan’s
friendship with the aging manager comes to a violent end when the pusher is killed
in front him on his gas station grounds.
Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Lambert tracks down Lola
with the goal of finding the other drug dealers and avenging Bensoussan’s
death. Though an obvious foray into an
increasingly deadly scenario, Lambert’s so far past the point of death himself
that the prospect of his own demise matters little to him despite Lola’s protestations.
Lensed by Possession cinematographer Bruno Nuytten
and given a subtly ambient score with the same foreboding somber outlook as Uli
Edel’s Christiane F., Tchao Pantin starts off slow and amicably
before being violently dragged kicking and screaming into another direction
entirely all the while being a stellar actor’s piece for Coluche in a career
defining role. A portrait of
French-Arabic relations and how strongly someone else’s sense of care and loss
can consequently factor into their sudden call-to-arms, the film is a powerful
character study of a broken man who for better or worse is trying to put the
pieces back together again even as he’s doling out ruthless brutalities. Also a portrait of youth culture, notably the
punk drugs, rock and roll scene and the sort of paternalism of lost fathers for
lost children, so to speak, the film ultimately functions as a social critique
of cyclical violence.
Coluche himself, like the character of Lambert, was going
through a rough bout involving a dissolving marriage and a friend’s suicide
using the gun he bought him which then prompted the actor’s own descent into
drug addiction which invariably fed into the authenticity of the character. Though Coluche’s heart wasn’t in it, a large
tax debt owed forced him to accept the role and the actor’s own personal
battles with demons factored right into the plotline. Then there’s Richard Anconina as Bensoussan
the scrappy but likewise lost and struggling youth who becomes almost like a
sibling to Lambert. A newcomer at the
time, there’s an earnestness to his character so despite his ugly track record,
we still feel for him when he dies.
Agnes Soral as the punk girl Lola had previously worked with director
Claude Berri on A Moment of Distraction and went the extra mile living
out the role of her character including but not limited to losing weight and navigating
the infamous districts of northern Paris with the cast and crew.
A breakthrough film for Coluche who up to that point was
only known for comedic screen roles found redemption in a film that echoed his
personal life as both expose and nonjudgmental character study of a broken man,
Tchao Pantin became a major French critical and commercial hit with
Coluche winning the Cesar Award in 1984 for Best Actor. A visually stunning neo-noir of sorts, a French
Mean Streets featuring arresting ensemble performances and striking
direction, the film despite the accolades remained largely unknown outside of
Europe. Hopefully with this new 4K
restored blu-ray premiere unveiled by Radiance Films, the film’s clandestine
western reputation will change with filmgoers recognizing Claude Berri as an
important contemporary French director and Coluche as a terrific actor who
pours his heart and soul onscreen in the role of a lifetime.
--Andrew Kotwicki
