AllMovie

Two leading figures in the French cinema, actor Gérard Depardieu and director Claude Chabrol, collaborate for the first time in this breezy whodunit. Paul Bellamy (Depardieu) is a French police detective whose wife, Françoise (Marie Bunel), has managed to persuade him to take a vacation for the first time in years. While she's enjoying the sights in Nimes, he's itchy to get back to work, but as it happens crime follows him to the hotel where he's staying. A fellow guest, Noël Gentil (Jacques Gamblin), confesses to a very unusual murder -- Gentil has had plastic surgery to heighten his resemblance to a homeless man, whom Gentil and his wife planned to murder as part of an insurance scam. However, the scheme fell apart when Gentil's wife discovered he was having an affair, and now he's responsible for the death of an innocent man. While Gentil admits his guilt, Bellamy thinks something isn't right about his story, and he sets out to uncover the truth. Meanwhile, Bellamy has to deal with an unwanted distraction in the form of his half brother, Jacques (Clovis Cornillac), who is addicted to booze and gambling, and is a constant thorn in the cop's side. Bellamy received its British premiere at the 2009 BFI London Film Festival.