Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in Chicago, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
La Balance (1982)
Director: Bob Swaim
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
The mean, cobbled streets of the Belleville quartier in Paris yield up another story of love, money and death, and all the requisite shootouts, car chases and lowlife infighting are delivered with great verve and pace: but what really distinguishes this excellent thriller is Swaim's strength on the emotional front. The flics set up a pimp (Léotard) to be a new informer ('balance') by leaning on the whore he very much loves (Baye); the loyalties become more and more crossed until betrayal is the only means to salvation. Léotard is superb as the crook with a heart of glass; Baye at last breaks out of her nun's habits and gives us a tart with the strength of ten; Berry is the sympatico cop. They order these things better in France. CPea.Author: CPea
Cast & crew
Director: Bob Swaim
Producer: Georges Dancigers, Alexandre Mnouchkine
Cast: Nathalie Baye, Philippe Léotard, Richard Berry, Christophe Malavoy, Jean-Paul Connart, Bernard Freyd, Maurice Ronet full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 102 mins
Features
Gray's anatomy
James Gray wants to push buttons—again.
The next big thing?
Gigantic Releasing tries to rethink indie distribution…without movie theaters.
Red Diva: Lyubov Orlova, First Lady of Soviet Cinema
So you think you can dance, comrade?
Puppet master
Coraline director Henry Selick takes stop-motion animation into 3-D.
Socratic method
Laurent Cantet's approach on the set matches the message of his film.
Wander woman
Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy puts a Bush-era spin on the road movie.
Oscars
Read our interviews with the nominees, our reviews of the nominated films and more.
What do you think?
Post your review now