Director Claude Berri was often criticized for having tried this "film noir". However, I am not sure if "Tchao Pantin" is a proper film noir. After all, I wonder if this misunderstanding is the reason, why this movie is rated only by a few hundreds of people, and, most of all, why it is still not available on international DVD. The latter is the more astonishing, since Coluche has in French almost the status of a saint. But it is even worse: In the U.S., there is actually not one Coluche-movie available on DVD, although he acted at the side of Louis de Funes, Isabelle Huppert and other international stars. Coluche definitely needs to be reborn for the international audiences; he was a truly unique clown, comedian, actor and an outstanding human being, who is revered for good reason in France.
People who know about Coluche's short life may wonder if he is really acting in this movie, or if he did not rather bring a good part of his personality into "Tchao Pantin". Yet, however it may be, two more reasons did not make it easier for this wonderful and sublime movie to make its way around the world. First, the title which is not translated in English, because it is not translatable. A "pantin" is a jumping Jack, and most people do not understand, why Coluche is a jumping Jack. Consequently, the title has been newly invented in many foreign versions. For example, in German, it is called "Am Rande der Nacht" ("At the edge of the night") and thus settled into a borderline region which has many times proved to be a reservoir of imagination in literature as well as in film. Second, from the assumption that this is a film noir one would interpret what Lambert-Coluche is doing in this movie as a series of revenge. Is it really so? In order not to spoil the movie, let me just say that Lambert realizes, after having killed the murderer of Bensoussan, that behind the small fishes there are bigger fishes. Consistently, Lambert then goes after the bigger ones, until he reaches the point where he finds himself trapped in the net of these fishes. However, Lambert does not seek for simple revenge. He is obsessed by the idea that he can exterminate evil by consistently going to the end. Charles Sanders Peirce wrote: "He who would not sacrifice his own soul to save the whole world, is, as it seems to me, illogical in all his inferences, collectively. Logic is rooted in the social principle". Lambert is consistent, no doubt, and I am convinced that this movie substitutes ethics by logic. However, there are the paradoxes that arise from logic proper, and in the end the killer gets killed. Does "Tchao Pantin" mean that in society somebody who strictly follows logic is a jumping Jack?
People who know about Coluche's short life may wonder if he is really acting in this movie, or if he did not rather bring a good part of his personality into "Tchao Pantin". Yet, however it may be, two more reasons did not make it easier for this wonderful and sublime movie to make its way around the world. First, the title which is not translated in English, because it is not translatable. A "pantin" is a jumping Jack, and most people do not understand, why Coluche is a jumping Jack. Consequently, the title has been newly invented in many foreign versions. For example, in German, it is called "Am Rande der Nacht" ("At the edge of the night") and thus settled into a borderline region which has many times proved to be a reservoir of imagination in literature as well as in film. Second, from the assumption that this is a film noir one would interpret what Lambert-Coluche is doing in this movie as a series of revenge. Is it really so? In order not to spoil the movie, let me just say that Lambert realizes, after having killed the murderer of Bensoussan, that behind the small fishes there are bigger fishes. Consistently, Lambert then goes after the bigger ones, until he reaches the point where he finds himself trapped in the net of these fishes. However, Lambert does not seek for simple revenge. He is obsessed by the idea that he can exterminate evil by consistently going to the end. Charles Sanders Peirce wrote: "He who would not sacrifice his own soul to save the whole world, is, as it seems to me, illogical in all his inferences, collectively. Logic is rooted in the social principle". Lambert is consistent, no doubt, and I am convinced that this movie substitutes ethics by logic. However, there are the paradoxes that arise from logic proper, and in the end the killer gets killed. Does "Tchao Pantin" mean that in society somebody who strictly follows logic is a jumping Jack?