A mort l'arbitre
Encyclopedia
À mort l'arbitre is a 1984 French
thriller film, directed by Jean-Pierre Mocky
. The film won Best Original Idea at the 1984 Mystfest and was nominated for Best Film in the same event.
With the defeated and angry fans waiting for Maurice after the game, the team physio manages to quietly slip he and Martine out of the stadium in a van. The couple go to the local studios of FR3 (a depiction of a real television channel: France 3
) where Maurice takes part in a football discussion programme. Rico and his gang go to a pizza restaurant, where they see Maurice on the television. Hearing what Maurice is saying, they becoming increasingly agitated, shouting insults at his image on the television. Angrily, they set off to the TV studio to find him.
Maurice and his girlfriend manage to flee to a shopping centre
. The gang follow them into the centre then spread out to search, using an alarm signal to keep in touch. During the search Rico accidentally kills Béru, a fellow gang member. The other gang members don't witness this so Rico blames it on Maurice. Determined to avenge their friend, Rico and the gang comb the stadium entrance for any trace of the referee. This leads them to Martine's home address.
When they arrive at Martine's home, she and Maurice are inside. The gang cut the power and set about trying to gain entrance using any means possible, with Rico attacking the door with a blowtorch
. After Martine has alerted the neighbours, and managed to injure Rico's hand, and after Maurice has managed to stop two of the gang members from gaining entry, the couple escape by climbing up the outside of the building.
The assault continues. Martine's sister is attacked, but rescued by Maurice. One of the supporters dies from a fall. Some of the apartments are ransacked. Neighbours are assaulted. The pursuit continues into a supermarket
, where a security guard is beaten up by the gang, then into a factory, where the referee despatches two of the supporters.
Rico catches up with the couple, in the factory, and threatens them with an axe, but Granowski arrives with other police personnel before he can carry out his threat. One of the supporters, Mayor, is armed with a gun. He shoots at Maurice, then refuses to give himself up and is killed by Granowski. Maurice and Martine flee in a car, with Rico hot on their heels in his gang's bus. After a pursuit around a large, underground, industrial excavation site (or perhaps a mining operation) Rico knocks the couple's car off a ledge with the bus. The car falls a few metres to the ground, apparently killing its two occupants. Granowski arrives at the scene moments later in his car.
With mission accomplished, Rico walks away from camera, gleefully ranting, raving, gesturing, and proffering insults to the excavation workers around him. A police car
is seen catching up with him just as the film ends.
) though it did receive largely favourable reviews, with Jacques Morice in Télérama
describing Michel Serrault
as impeccable and chilling in his role as a belligerent proletarian.
Not until it was seen on French television by 17 million viewers in 1989, as part of a series called Dossiers de l'écran (literally "screen files": each episode consisted of the broadcast of a film dealing with a chosen theme followed by discussions with studio guests on the same theme) and after the Hillsborough
and Heysel
disasters, did À mort l'arbitre become a success and begin to establish itself as a cult film
and one of director Jean-Pierre Mocky's classics.
In 2006 French newspaper Libération
described the film as a disturbing, and still relevant, satire on the fanaticism of football supporters, and the director Jean-Pierre Mocky as one of the rare French film makers capable of making such a high-calibre, risk-taking social drama.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
thriller film, directed by Jean-Pierre Mocky
Jean-Pierre Mocky
Jean-Pierre Mocky is the pseudonym of Jean-Paul Adam Mokiejewski, a French film director, actor, screenwriter and producer...
. The film won Best Original Idea at the 1984 Mystfest and was nominated for Best Film in the same event.
Plot
In the run-up to an important football match police mount an operation to prevent trouble breaking out between rival fans. The operation is led by inspector Granowski and a young trainee, Philippon. The supporters of one of the teams, the violent and racist jaunes et noirs (yellow and blacks), arrive at the stadium, led by their leader Rico. During the game, the referee, Maurice Bruno (whose journalist girlfriend, Martine, is watching from the stands, next to Rico and his gang), awards a penalty, resulting in the jaunes et noirs losing the match, and leading to fighting between the two sets of supporters.With the defeated and angry fans waiting for Maurice after the game, the team physio manages to quietly slip he and Martine out of the stadium in a van. The couple go to the local studios of FR3 (a depiction of a real television channel: France 3
France 3
France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô....
) where Maurice takes part in a football discussion programme. Rico and his gang go to a pizza restaurant, where they see Maurice on the television. Hearing what Maurice is saying, they becoming increasingly agitated, shouting insults at his image on the television. Angrily, they set off to the TV studio to find him.
Maurice and his girlfriend manage to flee to a shopping centre
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
. The gang follow them into the centre then spread out to search, using an alarm signal to keep in touch. During the search Rico accidentally kills Béru, a fellow gang member. The other gang members don't witness this so Rico blames it on Maurice. Determined to avenge their friend, Rico and the gang comb the stadium entrance for any trace of the referee. This leads them to Martine's home address.
When they arrive at Martine's home, she and Maurice are inside. The gang cut the power and set about trying to gain entrance using any means possible, with Rico attacking the door with a blowtorch
Blow torch
A blowtorch , blow torch , or blowlamp is a tool for applying lower-intensity and more diffuse flame and heat for various applications, than the oxyacetylene torch. Before aerosol cans and pressurized gas cylinders, fuel was pressurized by a syringe or pump...
. After Martine has alerted the neighbours, and managed to injure Rico's hand, and after Maurice has managed to stop two of the gang members from gaining entry, the couple escape by climbing up the outside of the building.
The assault continues. Martine's sister is attacked, but rescued by Maurice. One of the supporters dies from a fall. Some of the apartments are ransacked. Neighbours are assaulted. The pursuit continues into a supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
, where a security guard is beaten up by the gang, then into a factory, where the referee despatches two of the supporters.
Rico catches up with the couple, in the factory, and threatens them with an axe, but Granowski arrives with other police personnel before he can carry out his threat. One of the supporters, Mayor, is armed with a gun. He shoots at Maurice, then refuses to give himself up and is killed by Granowski. Maurice and Martine flee in a car, with Rico hot on their heels in his gang's bus. After a pursuit around a large, underground, industrial excavation site (or perhaps a mining operation) Rico knocks the couple's car off a ledge with the bus. The car falls a few metres to the ground, apparently killing its two occupants. Granowski arrives at the scene moments later in his car.
With mission accomplished, Rico walks away from camera, gleefully ranting, raving, gesturing, and proffering insults to the excavation workers around him. A police car
Police car
A police car is a ground vehicle used by police, to assist with their duties in patrolling and responding to incidents. Typical uses of a police car include transportation for officers to reach the scene of an incident quickly, to transport criminal suspects, or to patrol an area, while providing a...
is seen catching up with him just as the film ends.
Cast
- Michel SerraultMichel SerraultMichel Serrault was a celebrated French actor who appeared in over 150 films.-Biography :...
... Rico - Carole LaureCarole LaureCarole Laure is an actress and singer from the province of Quebec in Canada.-Career:Throughout most of her career, Carole Laure primarily collaborated with Anglophone singer, songwriter, producer, and director Lewis Furey, whom she met in 1977 and who later became her husband...
... Martine Vannier - Eddy MitchellEddy MitchellEddy Mitchell is a French singer and actor. He began his career in the late 1950s, with the group Les Chaussettes Noires , taking his name from the American expatriate tough-guy actor Eddie Constantine...
... Maurice Bruno - Laurent MaletLaurent MaletLaurent Marie Guespin-Malet is a French actor, and the twin brother of actor Pierre Malet.-Life:...
... Teddy - Claude Brosset ... Albert
- Jean-Pierre MockyJean-Pierre MockyJean-Pierre Mocky is the pseudonym of Jean-Paul Adam Mokiejewski, a French film director, actor, screenwriter and producer...
... Inspector Granowski
Reception
À mort l'arbitre wasn't as successful as hoped for in French cinemas (box office figures of 359,972 - 103,804 of those in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
) though it did receive largely favourable reviews, with Jacques Morice in Télérama
Télérama
Télérama is a weekly French magazine owned by Le Monde S.A. Its primary contents are television and radio listings, though the magazine also prints film, theatre, music and book reviews, as well as cover stories and feature articles of cultural interest. The name is a contraction of its earlier...
describing Michel Serrault
Michel Serrault
Michel Serrault was a celebrated French actor who appeared in over 150 films.-Biography :...
as impeccable and chilling in his role as a belligerent proletarian.
Not until it was seen on French television by 17 million viewers in 1989, as part of a series called Dossiers de l'écran (literally "screen files": each episode consisted of the broadcast of a film dealing with a chosen theme followed by discussions with studio guests on the same theme) and after the Hillsborough
Hillsborough disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a human crush that occurred on 15 April 1989 at Hillsborough, a football stadium, the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. in Sheffield, England, resulting in the deaths of 96 people, and 766 being injured, all fans of Liverpool F.C....
and Heysel
Heysel Stadium disaster
The Heysel Stadium disaster occurred on 29 May 1985 when escaping fans were pressed against a wall in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, as a result of rioting before the start of the 1985 European Cup Final between Liverpool of England and Juventus of Italy...
disasters, did À mort l'arbitre become a success and begin to establish itself as a cult film
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
and one of director Jean-Pierre Mocky's classics.
In 2006 French newspaper Libération
Libération
Libération is a French daily newspaper founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Originally a leftist newspaper, it has undergone a number of shifts during the 1980s and 1990s...
described the film as a disturbing, and still relevant, satire on the fanaticism of football supporters, and the director Jean-Pierre Mocky as one of the rare French film makers capable of making such a high-calibre, risk-taking social drama.