The Common Man (1975) User Reviews (4)

racist attack.

[dbdumonteil · 8/10 · 12 May 2004]

"Dupont-Lajoie" easily passes for Yves Boisset's best work.One can say the demonstration is ponderous ,one cannot deny its absolute efficiency.There's in this ruthless plot a spiral of violence which grabs the audience and pins them down till the last pictures.

A petit bourgeois,Lajoie,(Jean Carmet's finest performance) ,go camping by the seaside with his missus and his son.There he meets up with friends whose daughter Brigitte (Isabelle Huppert:it's the movie that put her on the map)has a gentle romance with the boy.Probably sexually frustrated,Lajoie tries to rape Brigitte and kills her.And there's a shanty town for emigrated workers not far from here...

The critics generally did not like it ,calling it a caricature:but since we've seen worse in real life.On the other hand, the audience made it a cult movie in France,quite rightly so.The depiction of these average Frenchmen on vacation rings true and Yves Boisset does not fall into the -all of them b...- trap:the "hero"'s son attitude shows the positive side of the human nature.

There's also a formidable spoof on these stupid "games" which the television organizes for the vacationers.Jean-Pierre Marielle ,as Leo Tartaffione ,a self-important emcee , is incredibly funny.

Maybe the last scene is questionable.But do not let it prevent you from enjoying the rest .Relatively speaking,it's the French "big carnival".

Le Total Spoiler

[edwardfuente-72762 · 7/10 · 4 January 2023]

There's something I don't get about the ending, which is how did the lynched man's brother get to find out (or realize) that Lajoie was top culprit? I guess the original novel has more to say on this but, in any case, the denouement of the movie is vague. Anyways, it's on youtube and you might want to see it for its pretty nifty cast featuring Isabelle Huppert and with a cameo for Jacques Villeret.

There's something I don't get about the ending, which is how did the lynched man's brother get to find out (or realize) that Lajoie was top culprit? I guess the original novel has more to say on this but, in any case, the denouement of the movie is vague. Anyways, it's on youtube and you might want to see it for its pretty nifty cast featuring Isabelle Huppert and with a cameo for Jacques Villeret.

Yves Boisset's diatribe against latent xenophobia will leave you badly bruised but otherwise enlightened

[waspkorp · 9/10 · 29 March 2018]

Based on the novel by Bastid and Martens, Yves Boisset's diatribe against crass stupidity, cowardice and ordinary racism is as relevant and powerful today as it was when it first came out, through its uncompromising and realistic depiction of how latent xenophobia can often result in dramatic consequences. A controversial piece that needs to be seen even more so today when racism and rape allegations are more rife than ever.

Best movie ever made about the French Red Necks

[searchanddestroy-1 · 10/10 · 12 September 2022]

I am French, and am not ashamed, nor proud of it. I know that most of my fellow citizens are not racist; not all of them. But.... Many hide their racism, though, they also may feel sincere empathy for a Black or an Arab, but in PARTICULAR only. For the rest, at the first opportunity, they show their real nature, we can see what's exactly under the shell, under the nasty, disgusting hypocrisy. This film is sooo French, it could hardly be adapted for the US audiences. Even in a south states of America, where racism is deeply anchored in minds and souls, some lines and elements should have been changed. Jean Carmet and Jean-Pierre Marielle are outstanding and the dialogues exquisite. A real must see Frenchie social drama, not a thriller however.