My review was written in September 1990 after a New York Film Festival screening.
Michel Serrault's tour-de-force performance as "Dr. Petiot" illuminates a sordid episode in a dark chapter of French history: the German Occupation during World War II. The film's stylish approach overcomes the morbid nature of its subject matter and makes for a potent arthouse attraction via Aries release.
On pic's home turf, Serrault and ongoing interest in this period (Claude Chabrol hit with "Story of Women") should attract attention and box office.
The venal and negative aspects of behavior of many Parisians during the Occupation was brilliantly captured in Claude Autant-Lara's 1956 classic "Four Bags Full", in which Jean Gabin and Bourvil portrayed two contrasting types involved in the black market.
In "Dr. Petito", Serrault and his director Christian de Chalonge tackle the difficult matter of a physician who was secretly a serial killer. Under the pretext of assisting Jews in fleeing the country (supposedly headed for Argentina), he killed them with lethal injections he claimed were vaccinations, stole their valuables and dispensed of the corpses in a homemade crematorium.
Petitot's crimes were not discovered until 1944 when a fire in his furnace got out of control and attracted the gendarmes and fire brigade. He escaped apprehension, fo9und new identities including a interrogator of suspected collaborationists and was finally caught and guillotined on 27 counts of murder in 1946.
This grisly subject matter recalls Richard Fleischer's fine film "10 Rillington Place" about the fake doctor Christie's London murders during the '40s. Unlike that film's realism, de Chalonge adopts a fantastic, almost expressionistic approach, beginning with Serrault literally jumping into a movie screen showing a vampire film.
What follows are stylized episodes noted by color drained visuals, exotic makeup (Petitot's heavy eyeliner suggests screen heavie of yore). Serrault's flamboyant performance, constantly on the move and even dancing around the room as he ransacks his victims' belongings, is outstanding and cleverly leavened with moments of black humor.
Graphic depiction of his deeds are wisely left to the imagination, yet the horrendous nature of this parallel episode to the contemporaneous Nazi death camps comes through forcefully. Also notable is de Chalonge's inclusion of the anit-Semitic newsreel propaganda projected before the feature at the local Parisian cinema, documenting a 1942 exhibtion on "Jewish traits".
Petiot is apprehended in a movie theater after writing an open letter on his deeds to the newspaper, which matches up with his own handwriting. Crashing through a movie screen the second time, he doesn't escape into fantasy but into the hands of the police.
Serrault dominates the film, with a supporting cast of unfamiliar thesps well-matched to their roles. Patrick Blossier's deep focus photography is arresting, including several scenes in a vast arcade where Petiot lives that recall Orson Welles' setting for "The Trial".
Michel Portal contributes bandoneon music for the ironic scenes of Serralutl serenading his duped victims "headed for Argentina". Elsewhere, a saw played by an old man at the arcade adds to the film's eerie mood.
Michel Serrault's tour-de-force performance as "Dr. Petiot" illuminates a sordid episode in a dark chapter of French history: the German Occupation during World War II. The film's stylish approach overcomes the morbid nature of its subject matter and makes for a potent arthouse attraction via Aries release.
On pic's home turf, Serrault and ongoing interest in this period (Claude Chabrol hit with "Story of Women") should attract attention and box office.
The venal and negative aspects of behavior of many Parisians during the Occupation was brilliantly captured in Claude Autant-Lara's 1956 classic "Four Bags Full", in which Jean Gabin and Bourvil portrayed two contrasting types involved in the black market.
In "Dr. Petito", Serrault and his director Christian de Chalonge tackle the difficult matter of a physician who was secretly a serial killer. Under the pretext of assisting Jews in fleeing the country (supposedly headed for Argentina), he killed them with lethal injections he claimed were vaccinations, stole their valuables and dispensed of the corpses in a homemade crematorium.
Petitot's crimes were not discovered until 1944 when a fire in his furnace got out of control and attracted the gendarmes and fire brigade. He escaped apprehension, fo9und new identities including a interrogator of suspected collaborationists and was finally caught and guillotined on 27 counts of murder in 1946.
This grisly subject matter recalls Richard Fleischer's fine film "10 Rillington Place" about the fake doctor Christie's London murders during the '40s. Unlike that film's realism, de Chalonge adopts a fantastic, almost expressionistic approach, beginning with Serrault literally jumping into a movie screen showing a vampire film.
What follows are stylized episodes noted by color drained visuals, exotic makeup (Petitot's heavy eyeliner suggests screen heavie of yore). Serrault's flamboyant performance, constantly on the move and even dancing around the room as he ransacks his victims' belongings, is outstanding and cleverly leavened with moments of black humor.
Graphic depiction of his deeds are wisely left to the imagination, yet the horrendous nature of this parallel episode to the contemporaneous Nazi death camps comes through forcefully. Also notable is de Chalonge's inclusion of the anit-Semitic newsreel propaganda projected before the feature at the local Parisian cinema, documenting a 1942 exhibtion on "Jewish traits".
Petiot is apprehended in a movie theater after writing an open letter on his deeds to the newspaper, which matches up with his own handwriting. Crashing through a movie screen the second time, he doesn't escape into fantasy but into the hands of the police.
Serrault dominates the film, with a supporting cast of unfamiliar thesps well-matched to their roles. Patrick Blossier's deep focus photography is arresting, including several scenes in a vast arcade where Petiot lives that recall Orson Welles' setting for "The Trial".
Michel Portal contributes bandoneon music for the ironic scenes of Serralutl serenading his duped victims "headed for Argentina". Elsewhere, a saw played by an old man at the arcade adds to the film's eerie mood.