La balance **** (1982, Nathalie Baye, Philippe Léotard, Richard Berry, Maurice Ronet) – Classic Movie Review 9,206 

French actress Nathalie Baye won four César Awards for Every Man for Himself (1980), Strange Affair (1981), La Balance (1982), and The Young Lieutenant (2005),

Richard Berry stars as L’inspecteur Mathias Palouzi, an unscrupulous cop (un flic), who forces Paris criminal Dédé Laffont (Phillipe Léotard) to turn informer (police informant = la balance) and shop local gang boss Roger Massina (Maurice Ronet), in the exciting and scary 1982 French crime thriller La Balance from American director Bob Swaim, from Evanston, Illinois.

Nathalie Baye also stars as Nicole Danet, a Paris sex worker whose former racketeer boyfriend and pimp Dédé has been excluded from the business of mob boss Roger Massina over a romantic dispute over Nicole. 

We are caught up in the webs of intrigue as half-way innocent people are caught up in the violence of the war between vicious cops and criminal bad guys.

There is a rotting atmosphere you can smell, thrilling set pieces (a traffic jam shootout) and it is terrifically acted, particularly by Nathalie Baye, who won a Best Actress César award as Léotard’s hooker girlfriend, Nicole Danet.

La Balance won three 1983 César awards, including Best Film (Meilleur film), Best Actor (Meilleur acteur) for Philippe Léotard and Best Actress (Meilleure actrice) for Nathalie Baye. It was a major box office hit in France, and popular elsewhere, earning $31.4 million against a budget of $1.2 million.

Also in the cast are Christophe Malavoy, Jean-Paul Connart [Jean-Paul Comart], Albert Dray, Florent Pagny and Tchéky Karyo.

Release date: 10 November 1982.

La Balance is directed by Bob Swaim, runs 103 minutes, is made by Les Films Ariane and Films Antenne 2, is released by Acteurs Auteurs Associés (1982) (France) and Gala Film Distributors (1983) (UK), (is written by Mathieu Fabiani (dialogue) and Bob Swaim (written by and dialogue), is shot in Eastmancolor by Bernard Ziztermann, is produced by Georges Dancigers and Alexandre Mnouchkine, is scored by Roland Bocquet, and is designed by Eric Moulard.

Nathalie Baye (July 1948 – 17 April 2026)

French actress Nathalie Baye began her career in 1970 and appeared in more than 80 films. She was nominated for ten César Awards and won four: for Jean-Luc Godard’s Every Man for Himself (1980), Pierre Granier-Deferre’s Strange Affair (1981), La Balance (1982), and The Young Lieutenant (2005).

Her other films include François Truffaut’s Day for Night (1973), The Mouth Agape (1974), François Truffaut’s The Man Who Loved Women (1977), François Truffaut’s The Green Room (1978), Jean-Luc Godard’s Détective (1985), Catch Me If You Can (2002), Tell No One (2006), Xavier Dolan’s Laurence Anyways (2012), Xavier Dolan’s It’s Only the End of the World (2016), and The Assistant (2015).

Her last film was Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9,206

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com