Also known as The Unvanquished, this often overlooked French film recently aired in April on TCM in an English language version titled Have I the Right to Kill? TCM always tries to air the original language version when it shows international films but in this case, this was the only version available. Still, what was
shown was a gorgeous black and white print that was originally distributed by MGM in the U.S. In many ways, it might possibly be the best of Alain Delon’s early performances and Lea Massari, the beautiful Italian actress who is best known as the seductive mother in Louis Malle’s Murmur of the Heart, has rarely been more appealing in the other key role. Take a look at the U.S. trailer
which plays up the action and the romance –

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/index/?o_cid=mediaroomlink&cid=193131

L’insoumis is also one of the few films of French director Alain Cavalier (pictured below) to have received distribution in the U.S. along with his more famous 1986 feature Therese, about the life of Carmelite nun St. Therese of  Lisieux, which won the prestigious Golden Palm at Cannes and won 6 Cesars (the French equivalent of the Oscar). On the basis of these two films alone, I think the rest of Cavalier’s work deserves further investigation. His filmography though is relatively brief compared to other French directors of his era due to a possible lack of opportunities.

At the time L’insoumis was made, Alain Delon was possibly the most popular male star in France, eclipsing even Jean-Paul Belmondo in terms of international fame. He had already appeared in such landmark critical successes as Rene Clement’s Plein soleil (1960, aka Purple Noon), Luchino Visconti’s two epics Rocco and His Brothers (1960) & Il
Gattopardo (1963, The Leopard) and Michelangelo Antonioni’s
L’Eclisse (1962) as well as French boxoffice hits such as
Melodie en sous-sol (1963, aka Any Number Can Win).

Unfortunately, L’insoumis would prove to be a bitter disappointment to Delon because of its poor reception though the reason is fairly obvious. The movie takes place against the backdrop of the Algerian War which had ended just two years before and was a painful memory for most French citizens, comparable in some ways to America’s devisive Viet Nam campaign. In addition, part of the film’s plot – the first half – involves the OAS, a group that fought against Algerian independence, and their kidnapping of two people who offered aid to the other side. This was NOT something
French moviegoers wanted to relive. After all, they had been living with the Algerian War since 1954 and wanted escapism, preferring instead to see Alain Delon in some lightweight heist film with Jean Gabin
(Melodie en sous-sol). Another reason Delon was disappointment by the failure of L’insoumis was due to studio imposed cuts which he felt damaged the film’s original intentions and impact though I could find no documentation of this.

It’s a pity because Delon is better than you’d ever expect in L’Insoumis. He often appeared to be playing
variations of the same character in his movies – a cool, calculating opportunist whose cruel, insolent beauty was irresistible to women. In L’Insoumis, he’s the victim and shows a vulnerability mixed with toughness that humanizes him in a way that rarely occurred in films such as Le Samourai (1967) or La Piscine (1969, aka The Swimming Pool). The movie opens with Delon as a soldier in the French Foreign Legion whose outfit is stationed in Algeria. He soon deserts his post during the 1961 uprising and ends up being recruited by another deserter to assist in the abduction of two French professionals who are aiding the Algerian cause.
In a tense sequence, Delon, who is identified as Thomas, helps ambush a car carrying the dignitaries and at gunpoint, forces the two abductees into a van that carts them away to an isolated apartment where they are
confined to separate cells, presumably to be tortured for information. One of the hostages is Dominique Servet (Lea Massari), a lawyer who, along with her husband, are known for their liberal politics and
humanitarian concerns. It is Delon’s job to guard the prisoners but not interact with them or offer them any comfort. The fate of these two people gnaws at Delon and he finds himself succumbing to Dominique’s repeated pleas for something to drink or to talk through the keyhole. His fellow guard though is another matter and would just as soon shoot the two hostages. The first half of the film, which sets up the captor/captive relationship between Thomas and Dominique, is chilling in its depiction of a hidden terrorist cell where deprivation and torture is the norm.

Then, in a split second, everything changes when the other jailer discovers Thomas offering aid to Dominique and guns are drawn. Bullets are fired. One man lies dead and the other releases his two prisoners and escorts them to safety. L’insoumis then becomes a noir thriller with Thomas, seriously wounded and on the run, much like Sterling Hayden’s character in The Asphalt Jungle. He makes his way back to France, where Dominique and her husband are residing out of harm’s way. Now the situation is reversed and it’s Dominique who holds the key to Thomas’s fate. Can he trust her? Without giving anything away, the
second half of the movie follows the conventions of the standard chase thriller but has a deeper resonance as a fatalistic love story, one obviously doomed from the start but utterly compelling regardless. Even
in the English dubbed version, Delon and Massari project an undeniable sexual chemistry together that eventually culminates in a discreet lovemaking scene (heavily promoted on the U.S. poster and possibly
edited for U.S. audiences). As expected, it’s a race to the bottom but as beautifully realized as such earlier examples of poetic realism as Marcel Carne’s Le Jour se leve (1939) or Le Quai des brumes (1938).

Currently L’Insoumis is not available on DVD or in any format but Turner Classic Movies is bound to run it again. Request it on the TCM web site. Meanwhile, the film lives on in
the popular culture in unexpected ways. The cover of the Smith’s 1986 album, “The Queen is Dead,” features a still of Delon from the movie.

More recently a color sketch by artist Bernard Evein of Delon’s bedroom in the terrorists’ cell turned up in a blog posting for Cosmopolitan Stories.

http://cosmopolitanstories.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html