The Body of My Enemy (Le corps de mon ennemi) (1976)

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General		Extras
Category	Crime	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1976
Running Time	116:21
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Henri Verneuil
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Jean-Paul Belmondo Bernard Blier Marie-France Pisier Charles Gérard Daniel Ivernel Claude Brosset Michel Beaune François Perrot René Lefèvre Nicole Garcia
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Dual
RPI	?	Music	Francis Lai

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	French Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.66:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.66:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Seven years after being imprisoned for a double murder he did not commit, Francois Leclercq (Jean-Paul Belmondo) returns to his textile manufacturing home town to look up old acquaintances and to exact revenge on those who had betrayed him. But there are still people in town who want Francois out, and are not opposed to violence to achieve it. Seven years before Francois, a boy from the working class, had romanced Gilberte Liegeard (Marie-France Pisier), only daughter of the town’s wealthy industrial baron, Jean-Baptiste Liegeard (Bernard Blier). In her company Francois started to move in wealthy circles with the Liegeard family and their political allies before Gilberte married into another wealthy family.

     Francois had used his connections to start a high class nightclub, where most things were available for a price. But when Francois refuses to allow the sale of drugs, two people are murdered in the club with Francois’ pistol and he is implicated by club manager Raphael Di Massa (Francois Perrot), found guilty and gaoled. Now, as Francois works his way through the old club employees and childhood friends in search of Di Massa, it seems that Gilberte may just hold one of the keys to the mystery.

     The Body of My Enemy (Le corps de mon ennemi) is directed by Henri Verneuil, who had worked previously with Belmondo in the excellent WW2 drama Weekend At Dunkirk. Just the year before The Body of My Enemy, 1975, they had also collaborated in the action classic Peur sur la ville, which includes some wonderful stunts, including one of Belmondo’s most famous: a sequence filmed on top of a speeding Metro train! In The Body of My Enemy, in contrast, Verneuil stripped away all the physical action, wanting to show Belmondo’s acting abilities.

     Indeed, The Body of My Enemy is primarily an intelligent, slow building mystery. There is a lot of dialogue as Francois visits various characters from his past in his attempts to piece together both the identity of the real murderer and the reason behind it. In this more character driven role, Belmondo acquits himself well and he is supported by a strong cast of believable, if oddball characters, in small roles including Claude Brosset as the ex-bouncer who has found a new occupation, Nicole Garcia as the ex-club girl and Michel Beaune as Francois’ childhood friend. But this is clearly Belmondo’s film and in essentially two roles (past life and present) he is never off screen.

     There are other pluses. The film’s backstory is told in a series of flashbacks, which are not chronological, juxtaposed with Francois’ present search. This could be confusing, especially as Belmondo has deliberately not been aged so looks the same in both time periods (the film itself explains that this is him remembering the past, and that he sees himself looking the same as he is now), but director Verneuil has a firm grip on the narrative so it is never an issue. The film also looks great, and indeed the town of Lille, where the film was shot, with its run down streets and factories on the cityscape looks perfect for the search of Francois into his past.

     The Body of My Enemy is an intelligent mystery that eschews the stunts of many Belmondo films in favour of something more compelling. Belmondo acquits himself well and is supported by a strong cast of believable, if oddball, characters. The flashback structure of the film is well handled by director Henri Verneuil and the film looks great.

     The Body of My Enemy is included in the three disc set French Screen Icons: Jean-Paul Belmondo 2 from Madman that also includes The Inheritor (1973) and Scoumoune: Mafia Warfare (1972).

Video

     The Body of My Enemy is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, the original theatrical ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     The print looks pretty good although detail can be slightly soft sometimes. Colours are natural but muted, in keeping with the drab industrial setting of the “present” story, while in “remembered” story colours are much brighter, especially in the night club. Skin tones are good. Blacks are also good and shadow detail acceptable. Brightness occasionally varies, and there is evidence of some minor edge-enhancement but there are no obvious artefacts.

     English subtitles are available in a smallish yellow font. In a film with a lot of dialogue, the subtitles sometimes flashed by too quickly to read completely. There is therefore some important information that can be lost. Unusually, the subtitles also translate a lot of the opening credit sequence, plus many shop and other signs.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
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Audio

     The audio is a French Dolby Digital 2.0 mono at 224 Kbps.

     Dialogue is easy to understand. This is a film of mostly dialogue with few additional effects, although the music in the strip sequence in the club comes across nicely. Basically, the audio does the job required. There was no surround or subwoofer use.

     The score, by prolific composer Francis Lai (A Man and a Woman (1966)), was unmistakably a French score. It was not intrusive and gave good support to the film.

     Lip synchronisation was poor fine.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     None

     There does not appear to be another English friendly release of The Body of My Enemy in Region 1 US or Region 2 UK. The only other versions of the film I can find are a couple of Region 2 French / European releases that have French language audio but list no English subtitles. Our Region 4 is the one for English speakers.

     I cannot find an equivalent Belmondo collection listed on sales sites. The only thing close is a Region 2 UK collection that includes Breathless, Pierrot Le Fou, Le Professional, Stavisky and A Double Tour.

     The Body of My Enemy is an intelligent mystery that eschews the stunts of many Belmondo films in favour of something more compelling. Belmondo acquits himself well and is supported by a strong cast of believable, if oddball characters. The flashback structure of the film is well handled by director Henri Verneuil and the film looks great. Intriguing and well worth a look.

     The video and audio are fine. There are no extras but the film is presented in a box set with two other films, which is great value for fans of Belmondo or French cinema.

     The Body of My Enemy is included in the three disc set French Screen Icons: Jean-Paul Belmondo 2 from Madman that also includes The Inheritor (1973) and Scoumoune: Mafia Warfare (1972).

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall