‘La Balance‘, released on screen in 1982, directed by Bob Swaim, an American with a long love affair with the French cinema, is a very modern movie. What is the secret? The story takes place on the streets of Paris, a location which from the 50s onward represents the optimal background for films of any kind, from romantic comedies to action or suspense films. The story is characteristic of the ‘film noir’ genre in combination with a hopeless love plot, with well-defined characters that do not leave the spectators indifferent. The cast is extremely solid and well chosen, even if it does not contain the name of any of the big stars of the French screen. The simple intrigue and the emotional sincerity of the script, along with the accurate and colorful rendering of the background, are in my opinion the keys to the success almost 40 years ago when this film was screened and of its feeling of actuality for today’s viewers. I could say that if the cops and gangsters in the movie used cell phones, ‘La Balance‘ could have been a movie released yesterday. A good one.
Nicole is a prostitute who works on the sidewalks of Paris. Dédé is her pimp. There is only one problem. The two are in love with each other. A love which is impossible and not allowed in this environment, a relation of which take advantage the more important criminals around them, but also the policemen who plan to turn them into informants (‘balances’) in order to frame one of the heads of the mafia. Love is a handicap in a violent and corrupt world – this idea is exploited very well to build up a plot that resonates well with the movie’s viewers.
The cast is excellent. In Nicole’s role, Nathalie Baye is in excellent shape, no wonder that the same year, 1982, she played the lead feminine role in ‘The Return of Martin Guerre‘ near Gérard Depardieu, one of the peak roles in her career. Dédé is Philippe Léotard, an extremely popular and active actor in those years, who disappeared too early, at the age of 61. Remarkable is also the presence of Maurice Ronet , one of the great actors of the French screens of the 50s and 60s, in one of his last roles. The streets of Paris are filmed in constant motion, with the hand-held camera inherited from the New Wave, very appropriate to the alert action style of the entire film. Bob Swaim is a fine and discrete professional who does not intent to astound and puts his craft to the service of the film and its viewers. 38 years after the premiere ‘La Balance‘ manages to stay fresh, interesting, sincere and fun.