The Professional
Film poster
Directed byGeorges Lautner
Written by
Based onDeath of a Thin-Skinned Animal
1976 novel
by Patrick Alexander
Produced byAlain Belmondo
StarringJean-Paul Belmondo
CinematographyHenri Decaë
Edited byMichelle David
Music byEnnio Morricone
Production
company
Distributed byGaumont
Release date
21 October 1981
Running time
109 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
Budget$3.5 million[1]
Box office$63.4 million[1]

The Professional (original title: Le Professionnel; French pronunciation: [lə pʁɔfɛsjɔˈnɛl]) is a 1981 French action thriller film directed by Georges Lautner. The film stars Jean-Paul Belmondo as the title role. The film is based on award-winning 1976 novel Death of a Thin-Skinned Animal by Patrick Alexander.[2][3][4][5][6]

The film was a commercial success upon its theatrical release and was the fourth most watched feature film in France in 1981 behind La Chèvre, Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Fox and the Hound, selling 5,243,559 tickets.[7]

The music was composed by Ennio Morricone, and the main theme "Chi Mai" became an instrumental hit and subsequent classic.

The famous final scene of the movie was made in Château de Maintenon.

Plot

French secret agent Josselin Beaumont is sent to kill Colonel Njala, the dictator of Malagawi, a fictional African country. However, before he manages to accomplish his mission, the political situation changes drastically and the French secret service resorts to handing over Beaumont to the Malagawian authorities. After a long, unfair trial, during which Beaumont is injected with drugs, he is sentenced to long-term penal servitude at a "re-education camp".

Following a daring escape with an African inmate, he returns to France and informs the French secret service of his presence, promising that he will kill Njala, who is in France for an official visit, thus getting his revenge on the people who betrayed him. The secret service responds by setting other agents on Beaumont's trail. However, he manages to remain one step ahead, humiliating and killing some of his major betrayers, including Rosen, the sadistic chief of the secret police. After Rosen falls in a gunfight, Beaumont takes Rosen's identity card and puts his dogtags on his body, spreading confusion within the secret service and temporarily reducing Njala's guard. Beaumont eventually tricks a secret service agent into shooting the dictator. While government officials confer with higher authorities, he slowly walks towards Njala's helicopter, but is shot dead by government agents, who have received the order to do so.

Cast

Popularity in Eastern Europe

Because of the film's subject matter and the improving relations between France and the communist block at the time, the film had received a limited release in the Soviet Union and several other Soviet-alligned states like Poland, and received immense popularity there having become a household name there.[8][9]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Jpbox-office.com Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ Christensen, Elen (May 24, 2020). "French Movie Reviews: The Professional". Le Film Guide. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  3. ↑ Powrie, Phil (1997). French Cinema in the 1980s. Clarendon Press. p. 141. ISBN 9780198711193. Retrieved February 23, 2021 – via Google Books.
  4. ↑ Craddock, Jim (2006). Videohound's Golden Movie Retriever. Cengage Gale. p. 501. ISBN 9780787689803. Retrieved February 23, 2021 – via Google Books.
  5. ↑ Bourlez, Fabrice; Vinciguerra, Lorenzo (2013). Pourparlers: Deleuze entre art et philosophie. Épure. p. 124. ISBN 9782915271607. Retrieved February 23, 2021 – via Google Books.
  6. ↑ Manila International Film Festival 1982. Office of Media Affairs. 1982. p. 5. Retrieved February 23, 2021 – via Google Books.
  7. ↑ Jpbox-office.com
  8. ↑ Yeremenko, E. D.; Proshkova, Z. V. (September 2020). "Foreign fi lms editing in USSR as cultural-historical phenomenon". Vestnik of Saint Petersburg State University of Culture (3 (44)): 28–34. doi:10.30725/2619-0303-2020-3-28-34.
  9. ↑ "Французский связной: история проката французского кино в России". Искусство кино (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-12-04.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.