Audience Member
The film Two Men in Town (1973), directed by José Giovanni, presents a poignant and powerful portrayal of the challenges faced by a recently released prisoner and society’s judgmental attitude towards him. Tackling a deeply social issue, the film highlights how societal prejudices and rigid mindsets can condemn someone trying to reform and redirect his life. The protagonist, played brilliantly by Alain Delon, strives to rebuild his life, yet he is crushed by the weight of societal distrust and preconceived notions.
Alongside the main character, Jean Gabin portrays a police officer who initially supports the protagonist’s efforts to reform and helps him get back on his feet. However, as the story progresses, this character, too, becomes disillusioned and ultimately powerless against the unforgiving rules of society. By the end of the film, Gabin’s character experiences a similar sense of frustration and despair, further reinforcing the tragic tone that permeates the story.
The film conveys a sense of fate and inevitability that entraps the protagonist. The ending suggests that, even if someone genuinely wishes to change, society’s deep-seated prejudices prevent this path. Although this deterministic view serves to critique society’s harshness, it also presents a rather bleak perspective on human agency, implying that individuals cannot truly escape their past. This sense of fate ultimately suggests an unbreakable cycle, denying the protagonist any chance of redemption.
However, in some scenes, particularly those set in the courtroom, the film takes on an emotional and at times didactic tone. During these moments, passionate and dramatic dialogues overshadow the deeper analysis of the characters’ tragedy, detracting somewhat from the film’s impact. Rather than delving into the intricacies of the characters' struggles, these scenes seem designed to elicit an emotional response, which, especially in a realistic drama, can feel somewhat superficial.
Overall, Two Men in Town is a thought-provoking film that offers an important critique of society’s lack of acceptance and reluctance to give individuals a second chance. Yet, its deterministic tone and the occasional tendency toward didacticism in the courtroom weaken its message at times, preventing the film from fully balancing its social critique with the theme of individual agency.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
11/02/24
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Audience Member
Not a bad finale for one of French cinema's oddest couples. But what Jean-Pierre Melville might have done with these guys!
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/21/23
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Audience Member
I love this 70's French Crime Movies and this one is extraordinary specteculat Alain Delon as a Ex-Bank Robber who get released from Jail after 10 Years and a Social Worker who try to help him to found back into Civil Life and he found a new Girlfriend everything seems perfect but the Mean Cop who arrested him then stalk and harrass him everywhere he goes and drive him back into Old Behaviours until he kills the Cop and get executed on the Guilotine (Which is such a Barbarism) that's one Thing i love on French Movies the Cops are often the Bad Ones and the Deep Critism on the own System
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/16/23
Full Review
walter m
In "Two Men in Town," Germain(Jean Gabin), an educator who volunteers for the parole board in a prison, puts his reputation on the line in writing when he states that Gino Strabliggi(Alain Delon, who also produced) is reformed after ten years in prison and deserves to be released two years early. Over strenuous objections, he gets his wish and Gino is as good as his word, as he is reunited with his dutiful wife Sophie(Ilaria Occhini) and gets a job as a printer. Even when his old cohort Marcel(Victor Lanoux) comes to pay a visit, he is not even tempted. Things do not go as well for Germain as he stops working at the prison after a prisoner's suicide and riot and moves to Montpelier to work with delinquents.
"Two Men in Town" has some important things to advocate on the subject of prisoners deserving humane treatment, reform, not punishment, and the benefit of the doubt, no matter what they may have done in the past. All of which is too touchy a subject for any politician to take up as a cause. Otherwise, the movie is fairly routine but does play with a genre convention or two. Most of its allure comes from the movie's star power, especially an early confrontational scene between Alain Delon and Gerard Depardieu, that in retrospect could be seen as something of a changing of the guard.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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Audience Member
Le meilleur film du duo Gabin Delon à mon avis. Une histoire dramatique, à la bande son bien choisie, enrichie par la performance de Michel Bouquet en flic inhumain et manichéen. 8 ans avant l'abolition de la peine de mort, le réalisateur prend nettement parti contre cette sanction d'un autre âge et mène le spectateur à la même conclusion que lui. Savoureux aussi : la voix off de Gabin, un timbre dont ne se lasse pas.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/15/23
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Audience Member
Fixed ideas on human nature are dangerous
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/23/23
Full Review
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