Most film reviewers surely should acknowledge up front of their ignorance when taking on a film based in a cultural milieu of which they have no direct knowledge set in a country they've visited many times but never enough to absorb what each country and culture can gift an actual citizen. There is so much richness in the casting and behind the scenes stories that a non-French native would be at a disadvantage in appreciating the film having the impact it had at the time. Yes, there's Wikipedia but dry information on a page can never be a substitute for direct experience. The film's star was a very famous celebrity in France known for his comedy, profanity and anti-establishment rhetoric. Imagine Rowan Atkinson emerging from his comedy specialty suddenly playing Ben (the Nicolas Cage role) in Leaving Las Vegas… Quite the shift. But then imagine how fitting the role would be if Atkinson's real life had destructively spiralled into the same as the character he was being asked to play. Michel Gérard Joseph Colluci, stage name Coluche, came from a poor family and lost his father at the age of three. He wasn't academic, dropped out of school as soon as he could and joined the forces and promptly was jailed for insubordination. Once back on civvy street, he helped his mother out at her florists but left her to enter show business.

Adopting his stage name, he began his career as a comedian but was dogged by alcoholism. But his career took him into the hearts of the nation, at one point garnering 16% of the vote in his bid for the French presidency! He even had an asteroid named after him. His humanitarianism extended to a tax law that gave breaks to organisations that gave a significant percentage of their profits to charities and he founded a series of restaurants that gave food and aid to the poor. Kudos. This was a troubled man with a big heart in the right place. Sensing that goodness, coupled with his descent into alcoholism and depression after a messy divorce, director Claude Berri felt that he could be tempted into a role all too suited to his then current situation. He cast Coluche as a man broken by the loss of his family with only a bottle of rum at his side as a constant companion and then in walked a young man looking for a sparkplug.

Tchao Pantin is set in the less well-off districts in the north of Paris in the mid-80s where crime and xenophobia was rife and the prospects of pulling away from it were close to zero. On the rain-soaked streets, a young man crawls forward on a faulty moped ominously followed by a police car. He stops at a corner garage and asks for a sparkplug. "What kind?" asks the gruff attendant. "For mopeds," says the young man as the lights of the police car throw patterns on the rainy streets outside. The young man heads home which is a horribly run-down apartment with stuffed bookshelves of one kind of book. He shoves his wares into a bag and proceeds to find buyers for his small packeted drugs. This is Youseff Bensoussan, a pusher who reports back to his boss, Rachid, the mob-like head of an illegal organisation based in a nightclub. Bensoussan is a freewheeling character whose desire for young women outweigh his instincts for self-preservation. And nothing is more effective at wooing the opposite sex in post-punk 80s Paris than strutting your stuff on an impressive motorcycle. The fly dans la ointment (technically and culturally 'une ombre au tableau') is that the impressive machine belongs to his boss who thinks Bensoussan is just getting it cleaned… Small scale violence ensues. On a return trip to the garage, he helps out the attendant, Lambert and, cautious at first, a relationship starts to bud. Lambert is a recluse and an alcoholic and of course we know there's a reason and that Bensoussan clearly reminds him of someone, a recognition that slowly pushes him out of his shell. That relationship is severely tested as Bensoussan gets into more trouble placing Lambert squarely in the sights of the mob…

Tchao Pantin is a curious title derived from the novel by Alain Page. It's official English (or American, peut-être?) title is So Long, Stooge. While it was easy enough to derive that 'Tchao' is a slang French version of the Italian 'ciao' (used a few times in the film), 'Pantin' was a little more vague. It means 'jumping jack' or 'puppet' and is always derogatory. It has a subtle subtextual meaning as 'Pantin' is also the word for a commune but as that specific one isn't in Paris, this was probably a coincidence. It's clear who the puppet is and the inference and threat contained in the innocuous 'So long…'

Noir, as you know, is a French word. So is a French 'noir' from a French point of view a 'night' genre? No. Noir is noir. And no, all isn't fair in love and noir. Darkness here is not at the edge of town but trapped in the DNA of the location and the characters. Bensoussan (played charismatically by Richard Anconina, despite his bad decisions and overall 'out for everything he can get' persona) is desperate. He slowly bonds with Lambert despite the abyss of differences between the men. But as a close friend once described our relationship as two people leaning on each other, supportive but mutually in need, I was the one that stepped away with the inevitable consequence. It wasn't done to hurt. I just moved on. Bensoussan and Lambert develop into that same light but significant dependence on each other until one moves away. Instead of this causing the other to fall, he is galvanised into action and for a brief period allows himself to become humanised again.

Director Berri was anxious to get the film finished in time so that the film would be eligible for the French Oscars (les Césars). Berri had a premonition that Coluche would win. During the shoot, Berri had to shoot around his leading man because he was not in a fit state to be photographed but when on form and on camera, this short overweight, brooding recluse commands the screen. He's not acting. This man is in pain. Of course he is acting but the parallels were too close to ignore between his own experience and Lambert's. Matching him and in sympathy with him, is his surrogate son Bensoussan. Agnès Soral as Lola plays the girl Bensoussan tries to woo with a motorcycle ride, a technique which clearly works (though to me more of a cliché than "How you doin'?" I'd love to know how a shiny bike makes you more attractive to women. I'm prepared to admit that I am being extraordinarily naïve here. Her brief allegiance to Bensoussan is slowly migrated to Lambert himself, a surprising match because of the age difference and despite Lambert's outward unattractiveness, Lola finds something in him worth supporting and taking care of.

Philippe Léotard as Bauer, the detective on the case of several murders, recognises that Lambert is involved in the violence but he also recognises the need for people like Lambert, people who want to correct the injustice in the world that the police cannot, those who wear the name 'vigilante' or 'avenger' with no pride just indifference and a workmanlike attitude to see the job through. Ahmed Ben Ismaël as mob boss Rachid is suitable hissable. It is possible to feel some sympathy for him but let's just say his judgement as a recruiter of reliable underlings is not top class. Lambert's behaviour towards the bigger boss above Rachid, Sylvio (played by Albert Dray), the one ultimately behind all the hurt and violence, is both shocking and perfectly admirable. The biggest boss always bears responsibility for the actions of those beneath them but in this case Lambert realises that he was so far from the violence that his personal retribution had to take a different path.

The two words 'tchao pantin' are also used as a phrase to describe any comedian's attempt to break into serious dramatic roles and failing; 'a wannabe tchao pantin.' Claude Berri's instincts were right on the money. Coluche received the César for best actor in 1984, so thoroughly well deserved. On receiving the award, he looks nothing like Lambert, fresh faced and funny at the lectern.** It's tragic to learn that a year later he ploughed his motorcycle into a lorry on the route to Cannes. The entire country went into mourning. An engrossing and gripping noir tale of revenge, Tchao Pantin is a cultural touchstone in France and deservedly so.

The 4K restoration by Pathé approved by cinematographer Bruno Nuytten is presented in the 1.66:1 aspect ratio which results in thin black bars at the sides of a normal widescreen TV. Given that the film is shot at night and in dingy apartments and neon lit exteriors and barely lit interiors, it is surprisingly free of the film grain I would have expected. Monsieur Nuytten knows his stuff. Depending on what kind of a screen you watch the film on, on my old monitor, the blacks are as close to black as I've seen a film stock able to replicate. In itself, this is quite stunning.

The uncompressed mono PCM audio has no issues. I don't speak French (well, un peu, a very small peu) but the clarity of the dialogue is evident. There is a softness to the score, one that has dated somewhat but it is still emotionally resonant if a little jazzy at times, awkward over much darker subject matter.

There is a newly improved English subtitle translation.

Michael Abecassis on 'Tchao Pantin', 2024 (7' 27")
Author and Senior Lecturer in French at Oxford University, Abecassis puts Tchao Pantin in some political context and reveals detail of the making of the film and all involved. Culturally Tchao Pantin has huge significance in French cinema and Abecassis lets us know precisely why.

Once Upon a Time… 'Tchao Pantin' – A documentary on the film featuring interviews with writer-director Claude Berri, novelist Alain Page, stars Richard Anconina, Mahmoud Zemmouri, Agnés Soral, cinematographer Bruno Nuytten and others, 2003 (51' 43")
A very solid entry in documentaries on single films. It's good to get feedback from the original author. The turbulent mid-80s political context is illustrated and by the end of the laundry list of what was wrong with the world at that time (it's a long list), I'm surprised we are all still here. Berri was thrust the book by associate producer Christian Spillemaecker. Fascinating to know that Coluche never read scripts offered to him but 'deciphered' them from what his friends told him about them. One of those friends, a former partner, Fred Romano, an actress of some repute, said that Coluche was scared of not being in control as was his experience on his French Presidential bid. After his tax troubles, he signed up for film work and had to give up over half of his wages to the tax office but Claude Berri was still seen by Coluche and partner as Santa Claus! Richard Anconina tells a delightful story of being called up by Coluche and being asked to lie about his age… Anconina realises as the phone is handed over to Berri that Berri would have heard that exchange. Agnès Soral, dressed in character on set, reveals how the punk look marked you out as a bad person even when you are trying to help someone carry a heavy bag. Coluche also used risqué humour particularly using Arabs as the butt of the jokes but despite this he was warm with his Arabic nemesis played by Mahmoud Zemmouri. Zemmouri discovered that the persona was not the man, something people often struggle with if the humour can be interpreted as racist or mean-spirited. Everyone has more than one great story about the making of the film and I won't 'spoil the remaining half an hour but it's just as full and just as fascinating as well as an intimate character study of its intriguing leading man.

Trailer(1' 30")
Bigging up the tradition of comedians becoming serious actors, this trailer invites you to wonder who that dour looking man is until you (as a French person) realise that it's Coluche himself. Violence is heavily featured (hardly surprising as it sells as much as sex does) but I do wonder if this was the original trailer. We're used to scratched and dirty trailers but this is either a new re-cut one or a shot for shot recreation using the rather dirt free and HD 4K transfer as a source…***

Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Manuela Lazic
This booklet was not available for review.

A culturally significant and well-crafted noir, Tchao Pantin is a superior and moving thriller with a demon-haunted leading man bonding with a young man forced on to the wrong side of the tracks. There is not a trace of sentimentalism in the film and its emotional heft is conveyed by naturalism in its acting and a film director who knows how to block unobtrusively but extremely effectively. It comes highly recommended.

Postscript
Like fellow scribe Slarek, I had been in receipt of this review disc for some time but found myself, if not in Japan, but with my spare time much in demand. I am very pleased to have seen and reviewed the film and am contrite that it has taken me this long to get around to it. My apologies.

footnotes

* https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/claude-berri-film-director-and-screenwriterbest-known-for-jean-de-florette-and-manon-des-sources-1334132.html

** https://vimeo.com/79196549

*** It seems to be a recut if this one really is the original.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv8QnL5xOMo&t=41s

If so, it spoils the entire film quite comprehensively so no watching until you see the film itself. Then there's this one which is closer to the new one…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvJbOxjI9tM