“FASCINATING! Trintignant in effect rehearses the creepy and seductive mixture
of sadism and insecurity he would translate into The Conformist.
His wife is played with heart-stopping capriciousness by Romy Schneider,
who was never lovelier. Intriguing and absorbing – and also,
thanks to Pierre Lhomme‘s silvery and smoky cinematography – beautiful to behold.”
– A.O. Scott, The New York Times
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“NOT TO BE MISSED! Cavalier's subtly committed and beautifully
crafted thriller stars three of the most accomplished actors of European cinema –
at their absolute peak here.”
– Elliott Stein, Village Voice

“MAGNIFICENT! In every way a superior work, a smart, immersive debut on par
with Elevator to the Gallows. As so many ambitious and avant-garde American films
that found little love upon their opening yet eventually became pivotal works,
Combat might now finally find itself as a key part of post-Algerian France.”
– Chris Cabin, AMC
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"This evocative 1962 thriller offers a bridge between old-school filmmaking
and the New Wave's playful indulgences."
– New York magazine

“Fascinatingly nervy... Pierre Lhomme's scintillating, jagged black-and-white
cinematography is ahead of its time. There's a surprise every five minutes!”
– Vadim Rizov, Village Voice
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“Cavalier conjures a mood of tense inescapability, alternating a political
thriller framework with a drama of impressive psychological intimacy.”
– The L Magazine
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(1962) Sure her marriage to rich factory owner’s son Jean-Louis Trintignant has its rough side for Romy Schneider: his frequent absences for unexplained reasons, his frightening outbursts of insane jealousy, and that very creepy friend of his. And what’s that carefully wrapped anti-tank bazooka doing in the hall closet? But there’s that other friend, that warm and friendly, but comfortably virile, artisanal printer Henri Serre (Jim of Jules and Jim). All too little known today, Le combat dans l’île subtly evokes a divided marriage — not unusual in French films — and a divided nation — but not divided as seen in the then-dominant Nouvelle Vague. Political assassinations (the attempts on DeGaulle reached double figures), underground extreme right-wing groups, even international, right-wing fugitives — producer Louis Malle was clearly making a political statement distinct from that of his New Wave confrères. Cavalier’s first major film — he’d been a Malle assistant — exhibits an assurance of tone and pacing that make this a uniquely gripping, where is this going? triangle-drama/thriller, as the camera of Pierre Lhomme (DP of Melville’s Army of Shadows, not to mention the cult classic King of Hearts, among many others — he personally supervised this new print) illuminates striking locations from industrial parks to road diners to Serre’s rural island refuge (you can almost smell the crisp winter air), while providing a surprisingly fresh look at that most-filmed of subjects — particularly during this period — Paris itself, both inside and out. First starring part in French, the language and cinema she would make her own, for Schneider (“the best actress of her generation” – Visconti): this breakthrough performance would be a major leap from the saccharine biopics of her Austrian youth. Trintignant, already a mid-range star at home, would break out internationally later the same year in Dino Risi’s Il Sorpasso, and become world-famous a few years later with A Man and a Woman and Z. Approx. 104 minutes.

A FILM DESK RELEASE

“FASCINATING! The movie‘s main source of energy lies in the electromagnetic forces of desire, jealousy, violence and cinema itself. The plot wanders with a marvelous, slightly demented freedom from Paris to the countryside, from political thriller to romantic melodrama.”
– A. O. Scott, The New York Times

“A fascinating remnant from the French New Wave cinematic movement... at once a gripping political thriller and a romantic triangle with moody concerns and flavorful period evocation of Paris and the French countryside. Cavalier proves himself just as confident in cinematic technique as his more celebrated contemporaries, Truffaut and Godard, while Trintignant brings a stoic sensibility to the role. Cavalier's camera has a love affair with Romy Schneider's perfect, goddess-y features.”
– David Noh, Film Journal International
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“Cavalier [captures] the ambiguous, fractured nature of France in the early 1960s in the most strikingly intimate manner… The seemingly ubiquitous French narrative device of the love triangle takes on a more political significance with Trintignant’s cold fish rightwing dupe battling for the affections of his wife with the sympathetic and liberal Serre... With Noirish twinges, great interior lighting and framing devices and some wonderful location shooting, the film resonates on an aesthetic as well as an ideological level. An underrated and unusual thriller.”
– Channel Four (U.K.)
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