La Machine **** (1977, Jean-Christophe Bouvet, Sonia Saviange, Monique Mélinand) – Classic Movie Review 3633

French film-maker and author Paul Vecchiali died in Paris on 18 January 2023, aged 92. He notably directed La Machine (1977), a passionate attack on capital punishment, starring Jean-Christophe Bouvet.

Jean-Christophe Bouvet has his first important role in director Paul Vecchiali’s intense and important 1977 French crime drama La Machine, starring as Pierre Lentier, a desperate, lonely, mother-oppressed 30-something alienated factory worker who murders a little eight-year-old girl, is sent to prison, examined by psychiatrists and is sentenced to death.

Vecchiali’s intelligent, heartfelt, opinion-changing film is a sober and fascinating inquiry into the French judicial system and the way the media twists its stories to manipulate its readers, and a painstaking but passionate attack on capital punishment, made five years before the guillotine was abolished in France.

Bouvet worked with the director on the screenplay, which is based on police, press and court reports of a real-life 1975 Marseilles case. He is the son of Paulette Bouvet (1914–2010), who plays Lina.

Also in the cast are Sonia Saviange as Pierre’s mother, Monique Mélinaud, Michel Delahaye, Philippe Chemin, Hélène Surgère, Gérard Blain, Frédéric Norbert, Jean-Claude Guiguet, Jean-Claude Biette, Jean-François Stévenin and Paul Vecchiali as Maître Altiani.

La Machine is directed by Paul Vecchiali, runs 101 minutes, is made by Diagonale, is distributed by Les Films Molière (1977) (France), is written by Paul Vecchiali and Jean-Christophe Bouvet, is shot in Eastmancolor by Georges Strouvé, is produced by Paul Vecchiali, and is scored by Roland Vincent.

Jean-Christophe Bouvet (right) in Under Satan’s Sun (1987).

Actor and writer Jean-Christophe Bouvet was born on 24 March 1947 in Paris and is also known for Under Satan’s Sun (1987), J’Embrasse Pas (1991), Taxi 2 (2000), Notre Musique (2004), Marie Antoinette (2006), Taxi 3 (2003) and Taxi 4 (2007).

French film-maker and author Paul Vecchiali (born on 28 April 1930) died in Paris on 18 January 2023, at the age of 92. He directed La Machine (1977), Corps à cœur (1978), That’s Life (C’est la vie) (1981), At the Top of the Stairs (1983), Rosa la rose, fille publique (1985), Encore / Once More (1988) and Le Cancre (2016).

http://derekwinnert.com/under-satans-sun-sous-le-soleil-de-satan-1987-gerard-depardieu-jean-christophe-bouvet-sandrine-bonnaire-maurice-pialat/

http://derekwinnert.com/taxi-2-2000-sami-naceri-frederic-diefenthal-marion-cotillard-jean-christophe-bouvet-classic-movie-review-1385/

http://derekwinnert.com/taxi-3-2003-sami-naceri-frederic-diefenthal-jean-christophe-bouvet-classic-movie-review-1386/