Word: broca
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WITH THE POSSIBLE exception of Alfred Hitchcock, Philippe de Broca must be Cambridge's favorite director. After all, it was de Broca's universally acknowledged masterpiece King of Hearts that ran in Cambridge for over five years, gathering a dedicated following and becoming something of an initiation rite for nascent Cantabrigians, from 1971 until 1976. But no one had heard from de Broca in the past few years; the man who brought us King of Hearts and, once upon a time, That Man from Rio, seemed to have disappeared. Well, de Broca fans can rest assured that their...
Dear Inspector (formerly titled Dear Detective, but the name was changed when it became apparent that it would be released in America at about the same time as The Cheap Detective typifies in many ways the elements of style and wit that have made de Broca a perennial favorite in more places than just Cambridge. It is the rather silly, but nonetheless pleasant, story of a high-ranking Parisian police inspector who just happens to be a woman. Funny thing, that--it appears the protagonist of almost every new film nowadays has to be female. While there is surely nothing...
...victims and one police inspector who is assigned to the case after Lise is temporarily taken off it. In the end, though, the mystery dissolves into silliness--save for one scene suffused with skillful tension in an abandoned factory housing both murder weapons, murderer and a body. Here, de Broca displays the full range of his directorial talents. It is at once scary, funny, and filled with a series of excellently chosen and effective shots and camera angles. Nonetheless, the elements of suspense fall by the wayside as Antoine and a series of dumb jokes combine to cinch the case...
Technically, Dear Inspector displays a sure competence, but not much else. While nothing is marred, the camera work is generally unspectacular, and the selection of shots shows proficiency but a similar lack of excitement. De Broca's direction, however, more than makes up for the everyday technical side of his film. He knows how to get the most out of a comic situation, and fortunately for this film, he can interplay a mediocre mystery with his major plot, as he did so well with Jean-Paul Belmondo in That Man From...
...dialogue and all of its meaning. And though Dear Inspector is just another in a continuing series of films featuring "successful" women, it should not be stereotyped as such. Rather, it is an amusing and satisfying, if slightly dumb, romantic comedy in the true French tradition. Philippe de Broca is definitely back perhaps back to stay...