Tchao Pantin

Am Rande der Nacht

Director: Claude Berri
Country: France

1983 | 100 min. | French
Subtitles: German, English

Cast_ Coluche, Richard Anconina, Agnès Soral Screenplay_ Claude Berri, Alain Page Camera_ Bruno Nuytten Producer_ Claude Berri, Pierre Grunstein Rights_ Pathé International

The grand finale of our retrospective, as well as the conclusion of an entire cinematic era. It also marks Bruno Nuytten’s transition from cinematographer to auteur.

This gloomy neo-noir outsider ballad links with Neige and pushes the auteur film even further towards the polar. The pessimistic revenge fable marks a turning point, while differing in fascinating ways from the subsequent popular French genre films of the 1980s. Tchao Pantin was a huge sensation in 1983, winning four Césars! The film has two shining stars: leading actor Coluche in the role of his life – one of the greatest comedians of his time and here cast completely against type, with a character who has autobiographical traits and was written specifically for him – and cinematographer Bruno Nuytten. The lighting, colour design and framing are breathtaking. Thereafter, Nuytten officially turned to directing.

Director

Claude Berri was born in Paris in 1934 and died there in 2009. He was a film director, actor, producer and scriptwriter. Berri is considered one of the most influential French filmmakers of his time. His first feature-length film, The Two of Us, was nominated for the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 1967.

Trailer