Inspecteur La Bavure (1980)

Review
This respectable comedy policier from director Claude Zidi provides ample opportunity for the comic genius Coluche to show his talents as both an actor and a comedian. Widely regarded as one of Coluche’s better films, it has both the gloss of an early 1980s French thriller and some raucous comedy, giving it great entertainment value. The scene in which Coluche comes to grief with an inflatable dummy is the stuff of comedy legend – and this is just one of a number of brilliantly realised comic situations (although there are also a few which fall horribly flat).
Fans of Coluche will not be disappointed; if anything, his performance in this film serves only to increase our appreciation of his talents as a comedian – although him being dragged up to the eyebrows as a Parisian prostitute is perhaps one sight we should have been spared. The film’s other stars – Gérard Depardieu and Dominique Lavanant are equally on fine form, both helping to transform what could easily have been a limp comedy into an enjoyable satirical romp, a much-needed antidote to formulaic French crime thriller of the late 1970s. Filmsdefrance


Cast:
Coluche - Michel Clément, le jeune inspecteur
Gérard Depardieu - Roger Morzini, l'ennemi public
Marthe Villalonga - Marthe Clément, mère de Michel
Julien Guiomar - commissaire divisionnaire Vermillot
Hubert Deschamps - inspecteur Marcel Watrin
Dominique Lavanant - Marie-Anne Prossant
François Perrot - Louis Prossant, le milliardaire, père de Marie-Anne
Alain Mottet - Dumèze, directeur de la Police
Jean Bouchaud - L'inspecteur Zingo
Clément Harari - Le docteur Haquenbusch
Martin Lamotte - L'inspecteur Gaffuri
Richard Bohringer - Le flic à l'anthropométrie
Philippe Khorsand - Le satyre Alphonse Rouchard
Dany Saval - L'antiquaire