Blow to the Heart

A middle-aged professor flirts with the Red Brigade, more for the frisson it brings than through any great political commitment. His inquisitive, priggish adolescent son watches with mounting disgust and determines to bring him to justice. At first the pace is stultifyingly slow. Amelio seems determined to excise any tension he creates by constantly undercutting the narrative with long (very long) reflective scenes. Gradually, though, the rhythm begins to establish itself as Trintignant (excellent as always) realises he's being outmanoeuvred by his son, whom he continues to dote on. A curiously bewitching movie, originally made for TV.