Sophia Loren kidnaps a judge's wife to save her son. Justice is messy.
A desperate woman, whose son is on trial for murder, blackmails the judge and kidnaps his wife.
Acting
Loren's volcanic desperation against Gabin's crumbling judicial dignity.
Direction
Cayatte's clinical eye turns a mother's love into slow-burning terror.
Director
André Cayatte
Jean Gabin
Leguen
Sophia Loren
Teresa Leoni
Michel Albertini
Andre Leoni
Gisèle Casadesus
Madame Leguen
Julien Bertheau
Verlac
Muriel Catalá
Anne Chartier
Henri Garcin
Maître Lannelongue
Marthe Villalonga
The Leguens' concierge
Anne Kreis
The tennis player
Paul Bisciglia
A juror
Michel Robin
Véricel
Daniel Lecourtois
The Attorney General
Jean-François Rémi
Antoine Bertolucci
Jean Amos
The fake inspector
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Cayatte was a former lawyer who made 'justice system' films his trademark; this was his penultimate work.
The 1974 death penalty debate in France looms large—abolition came two years later, making Teresa's gamble historically urgent.
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