Le Hasard Et La Violence

Le Hasard et la Violence is a strange French-Italian movie which came out in 1974 and was directed by Philippe Labro and written by Jacques Lanzmann. It was a time of thesis films on ultra- violence such as Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971) and John Boorman's Deliverance (1972). Labro's feature film di?ers from those of his American counterparts by an almost dreamlike approach and a soft psychedelia. A sort of lysergic atmosphere that has more to do with the idea of an LSD trip at Castel's than with Californian counterculture. Mid-life crisis is embedded in this story of criminologist Laurent Berman (Yves Montand), vacationing on the French Riviera to write an essay on violence. He is both the victim of an assault and of his love for Constance Weber (Katherine Ross), a young doctor who pushes him over the edge. Within this cinematic paradigm, it was a stroke of genius to ask Michel Colombier to compose the music for his film. Michel Colombier, let us recall, is a musician of classical formation, who went to the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique in Paris. His music for Le Hasard et la Violence re?ects his career: from Gainsbourg to the Beach Boys, via Paul Williams. A soundtrack that goes from neoclassical to contemporary, via groovy pop and slow music. Not to mention the main theme, a killer ballad with timeless lyrics. There is in the song performed by Drupi (known inFrancefor"VadoVia"),akindofromanticismspecifictoColombier.Let'sforgetourpost-postmodernironythatisnosubstitute for intelligence and let us be caught by the emotionalpowerof this soundtrack.