AllMovie

Ainsi soit-il (So Be It) by French filmmaker Gerard Blain is a crime and punishment story. Georges Vasseur, the legal director of a construction firm, is murdered. He leaves behind a file from which his son, Regis (Paul Blain), learns of the illegal activities of Jean-Marc Bertrand, the boss of the corporation. Georges also mentions in a letter that he has been threatened. Regis, who had a great admiration for his father, draws the conclusion that Bertrand must have hired someone to kill Georges. Instead of going to the police, Regis asks to be employed by the firm to carry out a discreet inquiry. He goes ahead with his private vengeance once he is sure of the suspect's guilt. After giving himself up to the police, he is tried and convicted, but the jury decides that it was a 'crime of love.' Gerard Blain made a name for himself as the James Dean of Paris during the New Wave period, and he won a Golden Leopard at the 1971 Locarno International Film Festival for his first feature, Les Amis. In 1999, the same festival awarded him a second Golden Leopard for lifetime achievement and screened Ainsi soit-il in the Out of Competition section.