France 1985. Director: Michel Caputo (Pierre Badricourt)
Cast: Brigitte Lahaie, Pierre Oupry, Michel Gopin, Dominique Erlanger
Le Executrice kicks off promisingly enough with someone watching a clip from some cheap sado-erotic film on video. Suddenly trigger-happy toughcake Brigitte Lahaie gets rolling, chasing bad guys like a Dirty Harry on speed. Later we are informed that Lahaie is a detective with the nickname "Tango" who's in charge of an investigation regarding kidnappings of young girls who are forced to appear in these dirty movies. After a while, when Tango gets too close to the filmmaker's back, her younger sister is kidnapped and it's getting personal. That's it on the plot front.
First of all, Brigitte Lahaie really is the saving grace and the main reason to why anyone should see the film. She gets a chance to prove that she can actually act with her clothes on for ninety minutes and she is definitely the best actor in the film. It isn't, however, her first fully clothed starring role, because that's Faceless according to the legend. Of course she doesn't get away without doing the expected nude-scenes. The film begins and ends with her laying in the bath for no apparent reason whatsoever. However, despite the nudity and considering its subject, Le Executrice nontheless fails to exploit any possibilities set up by it and one gets a strong feeling the film was made for a mainstream market. The direction of Michel Badricourt (who also made a couple of comedies with Lahaie) is although competent and the film is not without entertainment value. It's not as hardboiled as those old French police-films with Alain Delon that we are more familiar with, though, but a little more cooler than later hits such as Taxi. It's a decent action-thriller, nothing more, nothing less. And I must admit that Brigitte Lahaie do look awesome in that shiny leather outfit. But don't spend too much money in your search for it unless you are a hardcore Lahaie-fan.
© The Inzomniac's Movie Madness Review.