L'Agression

A French motorcycle picture which, though based on John Buell's novel The Shrewsdale Exit, transcends the limitations of imitating the American genre, and offers in its place a sustained attack on French middle class values. Trintignant goes on a trail of revenge after the rape and murder of his wife and daughter; bourgeois dream disintegrates into nightmare, but the seeds of destruction are shown to be internal. Deneuve, as Trintignant's sister-in-law, provides the film's emotional core with a fine performance, her presence questioning male assumptions, even when her lines don't.