The Marcorelle Affair

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Drama, Thriller

Former Cahiers du Cinema editor Serge Le Peron writes and directs this screwball crime comedy chock full of ironic film references.

The film opens with student radical-turned-magistrate Francois Marcorelle (Jean-Pierre Leaud) stumbling into an art house movie theater mid-film. The rather comely woman next to him first begins to caress Marcorelle's leg, then she drops over dead.

Later in the film, Marcorelle and his wife Claudie (Dominique Reymond) and their children are supposed to go on a family vacation. Unfortunately, Marcolle is snowed under by a case and is forced to stay behind. A lonely dining excursion in a Turkish restaurant leads to Marcolle driving a beautiful Polish waitress Agneska (Irene Jacob) back to her apartment.

After an enjoyable round of adultery, he is attacked by Agneska's father, and the altercation leads to Marcolle inadvertently braining the old man. Agneska claims that she knows people who can dispose of bodies quietly and asks him to leave.

Though no body ever turns up and Marcolle tells no one of his encounter -- save his best friend George (Phillippe Khorsand) -- an ambitious lawyer sets out to make a name for himself by accusing the magistrate. This film was screened at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival.