Verdict
Summary
An engrossing, if slow-moving conspiracy thriller that might’ve made the template for a number of high-profile conspiracy thrillers that came later, including Oliver Stone’s JFK, I … For Icarus unfolds in a compelling fashion and ends with a literal bang.
Plot:
The President of France is assassinated, prompting a massive investigation where one man unearths a huge conspiracy.
Review:
After an election declares the winner of the presidency, a huge parade commences, and the President is assassinated in a car in front of the whole world, much in the same way JFK was. We see an assassin on the roof of a building loading his gun and attempting to pull the trigger, but this guy is just a decoy and meant to be the scapegoat: The actual assassin accomplishes the mission and gets away with it, while the scapegoat is executed and blamed for the heinous crime. A year passes, and the government has concluded a massive investigation that covers all the basics … except the facts, which one man – State Attorney Henri Volney (Yves Montand) – refutes and insists is a sham on live television, prompting outrage by the media, but Volney takes it upon himself to devote his own time and money to do his own investigating. He soon uncovers a startling conspiracy: When he finds a videographer who taped the event (the media coverage was corrupted and unusable), he purchases the film and soon is able to map out every witness who might’ve seen the assassin in the building, and then he realizes that all but one of them have been killed or died mysteriously, and that there were obvious government “plants” paid to give false testimony. This leads him to figuring out who the scapegoat was and that he participated in an experimental mind control scheme that made it possible for him to be manipulated into becoming an assassin. By the time Volney figures all the out, the conspiracy has reached into the highest position of the current government, and he has no idea where the twists will take him next …
An engrossing, if slow-moving conspiracy thriller that might’ve made the template for a number of high-profile conspiracy thrillers that came later, including Oliver Stone’s JFK, I … For Icarus unfolds in a compelling fashion and ends with a literal bang. Director Henry Verneuil gives the film a sense of paranoia, but at times it feels too simplified and easy to see where it’s headed. It’s a wonder why no one else in the story sees what the protagonist sees, and in that sense it ends up being more of a cautionary tale than a thriller. I found it difficult to believe how stupid everyone else is, and when it was over I realized that the movie was one big set-up, destined for only one conclusion. Look sharp for French porn star Brigitte Lahaie in a small supporting role (no lines but there’s brief nudity). Ennio Morricone did the score.
Kino Lorber recently released a Blu-ray edition for I … For Icarus, and the high definition transfer is clear and sharp. There’s an audio commentary by two film historians in the bonus features.
