Tchao Pantin (Limited Edition) [Blu-ray] [Region A & B]

The actor and comedian Coluche is something of a legend in France, and died not long after this film was a huge hit in France, in a motorcycle crash. He didn’t play many dramatic roles, but this one is much loved in France, if not known really elsewhere. It is a very serious film, in a way, for a comic actor; perhaps not that serious, though, which may be the problem, because it has something of that romantic pessimism of the genre. It is about the friendship between a petrol service attendant Lambert, played by Coluche, and a young man called Bensoussan, born on the wrong side of the tracks, who is a small-time drug dealer. The friendship seems a little unlikely, but things don’t go well for Bensoussan, who loves motorbikes, and it turns into a revenge drama which brings out the former skill of Lambert who had been a police officer in the past, and has his own personal tragedy. A punk girl who Bensoussan had tried to get involved with then takes a shine to Lambert. The film is very dark, quite literally, in that rooms are often unlit, and it is set in very dingy surroundings. There is poignancy in it, but in the end it is more of an entertainment than a serious film, and fits in with a certain drab genre kind of feel, like certain Simenon films, or Le chat with Jean Gabin and Simone Signoret, again set in a very depressing area. The supporting actors – Richard Anconina as Bensoussan, Agnes Soral as the love interest Lola, and Philippe Leotard as a police officer – all enhance the film, as does the lugubrious look created by the camera of Bruno Nuytten.