Le septième juré (1962)
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Directors
Cast
Bernard Blier, Danièle Delorme, Francis Blanche, Françoise Giret, Maurice Biraud, Yves Barsacq, Jacques Riberolles, Camille Guérini
A remorseful pharmacist is chosen to serve on the jury in the trial of a man accused of a crime he committed.
The story
On a hot Sunday in September, pharmacist Grégoire Duval encounters a young woman by a lake and, in a sudden impulse, attacks and kills her. Her lover, photographer Sylvain Sautral, is suspected, arrested and charged. Duval, the real culprit, is then selected to serve on the jury at Sautral’s trial, a high-profile case that delights Duval’s ambitious wife and their two children. Consumed by remorse, Duval must face the trial knowing that the man accused is not the one who committed the crime.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
On a hot Sunday in September, Grégoire Duval, an unremarkable pharmacist from the small town of Pontarlier, is walking along the shore of a nearby lake. He spots a pretty young woman sunbathing topless. Giving in to a sudden impulse, he approaches her and lunges at her to kiss her. When she screams and pushes him away, he grabs her and quickly strangles her to make her stop shouting. The young woman’s lover, Sylvain Sautral, a rather dull young photographer from a modest background, is suspected of the crime, then arrested and charged. Grégoire Duval, the true murderer, is selected to serve on the jury at the young man’s trial, to the great satisfaction of his ambitious wife, since the case has caused a sensation. Their two children are delighted, too, by the honor bestowed on their father. The pharmacist is consumed with remorse and intervenes repeatedly during the trial to clarify the circumstances of the crime, thereby enabling Sylvain Sautral to be acquitted. But the young man is not truly free of suspicion: the town’s prominent citizens do not consider the acquittal enough to clear him. The young couple were known for their libertine ways, which scandalized respectable provincial society; they used to meet at an upscale café in the town center. The pharmacist is therefore forced to turn himself in to dispel suspicion from the photographer. Yet no one wants to condemn him; those who may have known the truth refuse to judge one of their own. Even the young photographer refuses to accept the truth. When Grégoire Duval offers to help him, he finds him holding a pistol, determined to end his life. As Duval tries to stop him from committing suicide, he accidentally kills the young man. After this, the police nevertheless let him remain at liberty. To keep the scandal from spreading, his wife, with the help of the police commissioner and a doctor friend, has him committed to a psychiatric clinic, where he will have to stay for a long time. The pharmacist eventually accepts this decision, certain that he never wants to leave this confinement, which fulfills his desire for punishment.
Genres
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