Il faut vivre dangereusement aka One must live dangerously (1975) A Flawed French Black Comedy Noir Parody

Written and Directed by Claude Makovski and Nelly Kaplan (A Very Curious Girl) . 

With additional writing credit to Claude Veillot, and based on Raymond Marlot's novel "Les suicidés du printemps" aka The Spring Suicides.

The beautiful stylish Cinematography was by Jean Badal, with an excellent score by Claude Bolling.

The film stars Annie Girardot as Léone, Claude Brasseur as Richard Diquet Private Eye, Sydne Rome as Lorraine, Hans Christian Blech as Ritter, Roger Blin as Murdock, Daniel Ivernel as Badinget. 

Claude Brasseur as Richard Diquet

 Sydne Rome as Lorraine

Annie Girardot as Léone

This is a one off film by Claude Makovski who was more known as an actor (Bande à part) and producer (A Very Curious Girl). It was a collaborative effort between Nelly Kaplan (who supposedly the original genesis of the screenplay) with formative input from Makovski and Veillot who all worked together before.

In direction Makovski was assisted a lot by Kaplan (uncredited). It's a subtle parody of Film Noir tropes, Film Noir homage, with even a dash of Sally the Sleuth and Crime Does Not Pay vintage crime comics. 

The tropes has our P.I. Richard "Dick" Diquet, "Private Dick," a wisecracking womanizer (Sam Spade a la Hammett as portrayed in the original 1931 The Maltese Falcon by Ricardo Cortez), and who in '74 is still wearing a classic trench coat. He drinks, smokes, carries a zippo and a roscoe (revolver) and drives a rag top '62 Peugeot 404 Cabriolet. 

Dick's "Effie / Velda" in a French touch, is Léone an aspiring chef who runs the restaurant below Dick's office on the ground floor 

Her side hustle is helping Richard on his cases by employing her gift of clairvoyance. The film takes place in the middle of the "Sexual Revolution" and Richard (a la Hammett and Spillane) takes full advantage of opportunities with the various women he encounters. 

Again, there's a lot of Noir homages throughout the film. I caught a few of them but there are probably more that folks a lot more familiar with French and International Noir will pick up on. 

For instance we get a homage to Ralph Meeker's opera record breaking sequence in Kiss me Deadly when Dick on the tail of Lorraine to a "Une cage à lapins" flop apartment house. He finds himself in the center courtyard where an old man hobby its raising birds and has numerous cages scattered about. He asks the man which flop does the girl who just came through live in. The man starts playing dumb, so Dick starts feeding a French frank into the nearest cage, the old man still plays dumb. Dick getting impatient pulls the top off one of the cages and scatters all the birds in it. The old guy gets hysterical when Dick's about to repeat the action and reveals Loraine's apartment number. Its also a homage to Ralphie and his pet rats from Blast of Silence. 

Dick's Zippo lighter failing to light may be homaging Mr, Brown and his lighter problem in the Big Combo, Jake Gittes in Chinatown, his frequent attempts to light his cigarettes serve as punctuation marks.

There's a kinky orgy with masks that reminds me of Joe Sarno's Sin In The Suburbs. A double camera trick used by Howard Duff in Shakedown.

We get a two toned shoe wearing villain. This again references Kiss Me Deadly with its Dr. Soberin, Bruno from Strangers on a Train, and "Nate" Bledsoe from Twilight Zone's Noir episode Dead Man's Shoes. 

Another Kiss Me Deadly ref is the death of Nick "VaVa Voom," Mike Hammer's garage mechanic. We also get a hanging dead woman reference from The Money Trap, and the aquarium sequence from Welles' Lady From Shanghai. Another ref is Dick and his cat as ref to This Gun For Hire,  The Long Goodbye.

One French Noir ref is the death from the speeding train from Un témoin dans la ville, there are probably more. There are probably quotes from other films one obvious one is from The Good The bad And The Ugly where Lee Van Cleef pulls a pillow over the head of his employer shoots him in the head through the pillow.

Story

The opening title sequence combined with Claude Bolling piece called train d'enfer is a real Visual grabber. 

From there we meet our P.I. Richard "Dick" Diquet, he's a bedroom dick, window peeper, doing divorce work, sitting in a dive bar/restaurant taking pictures with a Minox 35 EL, of somebody's husband feeling up his gal pal. 

The chick bartending figures out what he's doing and hits a buzzer on the bar top. The chef comes into the room, grabs Dick and hauls him into the kitchen and demands his camera or he'll shove his haed into a pot of boiling beans. Dick hands him a camera. The cook tosses it in the beans. Dick wisecrack's that it won't help the flavor. The cook roughs him up more asking who he works for, and Dick hands him a business card. The chief then tosses him out the back door knocking over some garbage cans. When Dick gets up and brushes himself off its revealed that he gave the cook a fake camera and retained the real one with the shots he took. 

He drives back to the restaurant above which he has his office and meets Léone's assistant / waiter who supplies some of the comedy relief in the film. 

Cut to his office / developing room where Dick is removing a wet print from a sink and hangs it to dry. In the office we meet the client a Mr. Ritter. Dick asks for his payment and then gives Ritter the photos.  Ritter looks at the photos and then rips them in half. He also asks Dick for the negatives. 

Hans Christian Blech as Ritter

Ritter tells Dick he has another even bigger job for him with a very important businessman. We also are introduced to the fact that Ritter has quite the sweet tooth during this sequence. This I know is another homage to some other Noir, but I just can't quite put the finger on it. It's similar to Sam Levene's police detective character with a yen for soda pop in Grand Central Murder, or Telly Savalas's Kojak with his tootsie pops

Any how, the big job is for an invalided businessman who says he wants Dick to track his mistress every comings and goings with photos and detailed reports. 

Roger Blin as Murdock lt.

Of course it all goes Noirsville because just like a classic hardboiled detective novel, when you start shaking things up, you never know what's going to fall out.

Noirsville 

A montage of frames set to Claude Bolling's opening piece "train d'enfer" enjoy...

If you are familiar with Film Noir from its beginnings to today's Neo Noir this is a fun flick. You have to keep in mind its a parody, a spoof. The flaw is that the sequences are so well done that you forget that its a parody and you get too caught up in the story and expect it to be a serious film.

There are some Classic Hollywood Noir with far fetched plot points also, these are what this film parodies.

For instance there a sequence where Dick is on a train to Lyon and like his old ex police turned detective comrade, he gets knocked unconscious by a guy occupying a sleeping berth. This guy, is in turn, knocked out by the two tone shoe killer. Then, two tone shoes. places a pillow over his head, shoots him and. places the gun in Dicks unconscious hand, a frame up. Two tone pulls the emergency cord, and the train starts coming to a stop. 

Dick comes to just before the train halts, he sees the gun in his hand and the dead man on the floor, and keeping the gun, runs to the vestibule, and jumps off the train just before it stops. He runs down the embankment and into the woods. He eventually come out on a highway and tries to flag down a ride. Nobody stops.

Who should come along but Léone, she's the clairvoyant partner. She had a premonition, she even made sandwiches she was so sure, and drove down that stretch of highway knowing that Dick would be there. 

It's not so far fetched when you think of the plot of Dark Passage, no? Bacall just happens to be painting near the prison when Bogart breaks out. He get a ride but the guy gets wise and Bogart has to knock him out, and then change into his duds. Then Bacall drives by while this is going on, she sees the disabled vehicle and turns around, and goes back to it. A good samaritan.

There, she looks down the embankment see Bogart dressed standing next to a guy laying on the ground in his underwear, and then just nonchalantly pick up an escaped con, sentenced for murder. and takes him home with her. 

Another scene has Bogey getting picked up by a cabby who just happens to know an on the skids plastic surgeon who performs a face lift on Bogey in his fleabag hotel, no waiting office.  

This is the kind of coincidental and far fetched plot points that Il faut vivre dangereusement is parodying. The film also has three different possible endings, each more absurd than the other.. 

If you watch it for the references and the visual style you will enjoy it. 7/10

 

 

Article by Virginie Aulnette

This film was not directed by Nelly Kaplan, but rather by Claude Makovski. Working alongside Claude Veillot, Kaplan contributed the screenplay for this directorial debut. Since the three of them frequently work together, the substance of the film differs little from Kaplan’s own works. Her influence is palpable—even if she is in front of the camera rather than behind it. We are delighted to find ourselves back in the world of this dynamic trio—so much so that we almost overlook the role reversal.

First, the film immediately captivates the viewer with its stellar cast—from the leads (the trio of Claude Brasseur, Annie Girardot, and Sydne Rome) to the excellent supporting actors (such as Mylène de Mongeot and Hans-Christian Blech)—and with its story (appealing less for its originality than for its humorous execution). These two qualities alone ensure the film remains engaging no matter how many times it is watched.

First, a Lautner-esque opening: the story begins with a murder on a speeding train, much like in the 1964 film *Les Barbouzes*. A true cinephile, the director employs a device that works well, immediately drawing us into a detective story that promises to be comedic—or at least offbeat—given that *Les Barbouzes* was a spy-movie spoof.

Then comes the plot: admittedly formulaic—but so what? We follow Claude Brasseur, playing a private investigator (and former police officer). He drags his trench coat through sordid tales of adultery until he stumbles upon a case that takes him further afield, in pursuit of a shady industrialist hunting for a diamond known as "The Great Mongol" (lost and then found). He embarks on more adventures than his life had previously allowed, living dangerously because the situation demands it! ably supported by his wife, Annie Girardot (always a delight to watch—playful, funny, and natural!), he investigates a world of crooked politicians. We even witness a scene that would reappear some twenty years later in Stanley Kubrick’s *Eyes Wide Shut*, when Tom Cruise finds himself unwittingly caught up in a sex orgy organized by a high-ranking government official.

The atmosphere is tense and taut, yet never heavy. It feels authentic, even though nothing is taken too seriously; indeed, with its mix of prostitutes, money, murder, espionage, and double-crossing, the film is firmly rooted in the crime genre—perhaps even *film noir*.

The score appears to be meticulously crafted. Unsurprisingly, it fits the genre perfectly, offering a blend of suspense, drama, and lighter moments. Far from being distracting, it seamlessly complements the narrative.

However, let us temper our enthusiasm: the direction remains uneven and lacks dynamism. Elements such as the close-ups of the killer’s shoes, the plot reveals, the final explosion, and even the slaps are filmed in a rather textbook, uninspired manner. It feels like a student graduation film—one that might have earned a passing grade (showing a grasp of the basics), yet lacked that vital spark of true artistry. Given that Makovky is no novice—having already directed short films and documentaries—one was entitled to expect a more mature approach. Ultimately, *Il faut vivre dangereusement* is worth watching (if only for Annie Girardot). It is a minor genre classic that could, however, have been executed better.

"You have to live dangerously", French police film by Claude Makovski (1975). With Claude Brasseur, Annie Girardot, Sydne Rome, Daniel Ivernel, Hans-Christian Blech, Roger Blin, Mylène Demongeot, Muni and Roland Lesaffre.

A police film, certainly, but also a laid-back, cool film, adapted from a novel by Raymond Marlot, by the trio Nelly Kaplan, Claude Veillot and director Claude Makovski. The plot, told in the style of Lautner, is based on an original couple: Diquet, a former cop who is fed up and his companion Léone (Annie Girardot), who runs a restaurant with almost no customers, but which is a mine of advice for her cop partner. 

Diquet, who is tasked with finding a priceless diamond, is used to noticing adulterations.

All in all, it's not serious, plays on the gap between police story and humor, and also likes to dress down his actresses a lot.

Claude Makovski, whose only full-length film, it is, hesitates between several genres without really deciding between classic French police, American-style noir or parody of the genre.

The cast, on the other hand, is made up of three stars: the couple Girardot/Brasseur, a friend/lover, works very well and is well surrounded: the American Sidne Rome, the German Hans-Christian Blech, the dark-hearted Roger Blin, the sassy Mylène Demongeot and the "transferee" of Marcel Carné's films, Roland Lesaffre.

A film, quite mediocre, but very representative of its time: coolness, cigarettes, whisky and female villains... but cool...

PS: the title comes from a 

quote by Friedrich Nietzsche

Jean De Baroncelli - Adapted by Nelly Kaplan and Claude Veillot from a crime novel by Raymond Marlot (Raymond like Chandler, Marlot like Marlowe—Chandler’s favorite hero) (1), Claude Makovski’s film straddles two paths: that of the classic thriller, with its convoluted plot and heaps of corpses, and that of the jaunty crime caper—bordering on parody—where neither the dead nor the living are to be taken seriously.

It was undoubtedly the second approach that the director preferred. His "private eye" is a decent, jovial sort of fellow who makes a modest living playing Sherlock Holmes for illicit afternoon trysts. His partner (and occasional collaborator) is a former woman of easy virtue turned restaurateur—a whiz at lamb stew with potatoes and *œufs à la neige*, a savvy sex-ed advisor, and a part-time clairvoyant. These two figures of Parisian folklore find themselves suddenly plunged into a series of tragic yet outlandish adventures, which they attempt to navigate while keeping a cool head and a cheerful disposition.

Thrills and smiles: Makovski plays both sides. His film is half-noir, half-lighthearted; half-suspenseful, half-playful. It is a delicate blend to balance, an unstable combination. What strikes you first about *Il faut vivre dangereusement* is the narrative tension and the character...the labyrinthine plot (two business sharks vying for a fabulous diamond, a high-class call girl acting as both bait and trap, a yellow-shoed assassin killing by defenestration, strangulation, crushing, etc.)—all combining to form a tangle that would hardly be compelling were it not for the private eye’s missteps, naivety, cunning, sudden passions, audacity, and strokes of good or bad luck, alongside his partner’s clever tricks, which gradually steer the narrative toward whimsy and humor. Wading through implausibilities and pools of blood, Claude Brasseur (jaunty and charming) and Annie Girardot (alternating between down-to-earth and hot-tempered) pull off the miracle of bringing human warmth to this absurd hodgepodge.

The story follows Richard Diquet, a former police officer turned private investigator who usually scrapes by handling mundane adultery cases. His routine is upended when a former colleague is strangled on a train and thrown onto the tracks alongside a stash of drugs. Meanwhile, Diquet is hired by a man named Murdoc to tail a young woman named Lorraine. The detective soon discovers that Lorraine is seeing a wealthy, unscrupulous industrialist named Badinget—who happens to be the sworn enemy of his client, Murdoc. Assisted by his partner Léone—a sharp-witted woman who runs a deserted restaurant—Diquet finds himself plunged into a wild, convoluted case involving corrupt politicians, shady industrial dealings, and a highly coveted diamond.

This film is a film noir parody and a genuine curiosity. Driven by the easy rapport between Claude Brasseur and Annie Girardot, it playfully pokes fun at the conventions of the crime genre. Crafted in the style of Georges Lautner—or with a spirit akin to Jean-Pierre Mocky—and steeped in the atmosphere of the 1970s sexual revolution, the movie relies entirely on quirkiness, nonchalance, and humor. Although the political and criminal plot occasionally touches on major themes of manipulation, nothing is truly taken seriously, resulting in entertainment that is pop-infused, laid-back, and a touch irreverent.

MADELEN GOES TO THE MOVIES!

_ A review of *Il faut vivre dangereusement* (1975)

A crime film bordering on parody.

Welcome to the 70s. A jazzy soundtrack by Claude Bolling and a screenplay by the great Nelly Kaplan. In this crime comedy, we find Claude Brasseur—our own Columbo-esque figure—playing a private eye, aided by Annie Girardot as his sharp-witted lover. Expect humor, sexual liberation, and a lighthearted touch.

A personal, unofficial review by the editorial team at Madelen, our SVOD platform.