The story follows the true story of a deranged sergeant who kills and when captured develops a seemingly sympathetic relationship with an ambitious judge.
The charm of this film is in the attention to detail throughout. Michel Galabru gives an electrifying portrayal of the mad sergeant from start to finish, and Philippe Noiret gives a performance that is cool and controlled as the judge.
The story is packed full of accompanying plot features, and all is filmed beautifully with great attention to locations and sets. This is a great film which addresses the problem of madness and responsibility in only the way that a carefully written screenplay can achieve.
The dialogue is well written and important throughout, and if like me you rely on the English subtitles then you really have to concentrate on both the reading of these and taking in the stunning visual aspects of the film.