''I as in Icarus'' () is a 1979 French thriller film directed by

Henri Verneuil Henri Verneuil (; born Ashot Malakian; 15 October 1920 – 11 January 2002) was a French-Armenian playwright and filmmaker, who made a successful career in France. He was nominated for Oscar and Palme d'Or awards, and won Locarno International F ...

. The title refers to

Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; , ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of King Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, Minos suspected that Icarus and Daedalu ...

, a Greek mythological figure.

Selected cast

Yves Montand Ivo Livi (; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991), better known as Yves Montand (), was an Italian-born French actor and singer. He is said to be one of France's greatest 20th-century artists. Early life Montand was born Ivo Livi in Stignano, a ...

as Henri Volney * Michel Etcheverry as Frédéric Heiniger * Roger Planchon as Prof. David Naggara *

Pierre Vernier Pierre Vernier (; 19 August 1580 at Ornans, Franche-Comté (at that time ruled by the Spanish Habsburgs, now part of France) – 14 September 1637, same location) was a mathematician and instrument inventor. He was the inventor and eponym o ...

as Charly Feruda *Jacques Denis as Despaul * Georges Staquet as Le gardien de l'immeuble d'assassinat *

Brigitte Lahaie Brigitte Lahaie (born Brigitte Lucie Jeanine Van Meerhaeghe; 12 October 1955) is a French radio talk show host, mainstream film actress and former pornographic actress. She performed in erotic films from 1976 through 1980 and is a member of t ...

as Ursula Hoffman

Plot

The film's plot is based on the

Kennedy assassination John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Kennedy was in the vehicle with his wife Jacqueline, Texas gove ...

and subsequent investigation. The film begins with the assassination of President Marc Jarry, who is about to be inaugurated for a second six-year term of office. Henri Volney, state attorney and member of the commission charged with investigating the assassination (based on the

Warren Commission The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established by President of the United States, President Lyndon B. Johnson through on November 29, 1963, to investigate the A ...

) refuses to agree to the commission's final findings. According to the commission's rules, the member who refuses to go along with the conclusion of the investigation is tasked with re-investigating the assassination. Volney and his staff subsequently find many discrepancies in the official story, eventually uncovering a conspiracy between organized crime and the country's intelligence agency to assassinate president Jarry.

Fictional state

The action takes place in a fictional Western state where the spoken language is mainly French, but German, English and Spanish also are spoken. Its location, or even continent, is unknown. The capital city is made only of modern buildings, like

Brasília Brasília ( ; ) is the capital city, capital of Brazil and Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino ...

. The political regime is presidential, the President being Marc Jarry at the beginning of the film.

Location

The new town of

Cergy Cergy () is a commune in the French department of Val-d'Oise, to the northwest of Paris. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the "new town" of Cergy-Pontoise, created in the 1960s, of which it is the central and most populated commun ...

in the northwestern suburbs of Paris was used as a filming location for the movie. The EDF-GDF tower designed by architect Renzo Moro is the building from which the shots were fired to assassinate president Marc Jarry. The governor's palace was the prefecture of the Val d'Oise. The huge room used for council meetings is the High Court of Justice. The long scene of the psychological experiment towards the end of the film, supposed to take place at the University of Laye, in fact takes place at ESSEC Business School in Cergy. This fictional Laye University is Yale University and the experiment shown in the film is the famous

Milgram experiment Beginning on August 7, 1961, a series of social psychology experiments were conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram, who intended to measure the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed the ...

Stanley Milgram Stanley Milgram (August 15, 1933 – December 20, 1984) was an American social psychologist known for his controversial Milgram experiment, experiments on obedience conducted in the 1960s during his professorship at Yale University, Yale.Blass, T ...

being a professor at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. The filmmakers chose the modern and innovative architecture of the new town to avoid depicting any particular country.

Accolades

The film was awarded the Grand prix du cinéma français for Best French Movie in 1979. It received five

César Award Cesar or César may refer to: Arts and entertainment * César (film), ''César'' (film), a 1936 French romantic drama * César (film), ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt Places * Cesar, Portugal * Cesar Department, Colombia * Cesar R ...

nominations in 1980, including Best Movie, Best Actor (Yves Montand), Best Screenplay, Dialogue or Adaptation, Best Music and Best Production Design.

References

External links

* {{Henri Verneuil 1979 films 1970s French-language films 1970s political thriller films Films directed by Henri Verneuil French political thriller films Films scored by Ennio Morricone Films set in Europe Films à clef 1970s French films