This “Limited Edition” Blu-ray from Radiance Films is available for purchase on January 28th.
This is a great week for Blu-rays of underseen but marvelous classics. Weak Spot (1975) aka La Faille is the latest arrival from Radiance Films, and it’s another winner. The co-production between France, Italy and Germany was shot in Greece and is a striking political thriller that will evoke a sense of fear and paranoia in any viewer. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of it may be the fact that the events depicted now seem like something that could easily occur in the coming years.
Shot in Greece, the story is set in a country run by extremist, right-wing colonels. Forty-something travel agent Georgis (Ugo Tognazzi) walks into a bar and bumps into a stranger. Moments later, he is arrested by men in suits. They take him to a police station, where he is grilled for being part of an anti-government movement. Knowing nothing and unable to answer any questions, he is passed on to an Investigator (Michel Piccoli). The agent is told to take Georgis by car to the capital for further imprisonment and questioning. Georgis attempts to talk to the agent and understand why he has been taken, but the Investigator doesn’t want to answer questions. When their car breaks down in a seaside town, they’re forced to spend time together and wait for repairs to be completed. The travel agent and official do start conversing and getting friendlier until the Investigator starts questioning his own beliefs.
Little information is given about the characters, who meet as strangers under stressful circumstances and slowly form a strange bond as the story progresses. In this case, the lack of details is perfectly appropriate in setting up the story and keeping viewers on edge. One thing is certain… the Investigator and his cohorts are serious threats and Georgis is having his life torn apart for no discernable reason at all.
It’s all chillingly handled from the opening scenes, which depict a man running from agents and falling to his death. The icy government figures are very quick to state that since their suspect fled, the individual must have been guilty. When Georgis is questioned, there is no way for him to prove his innocence. His answers are always twisted around so that there is no correct response.
The movie does allow for something of a power shift as the men find themselves stuck in a scenic locale. As a salesman, Georgis can turn on the charm and even poke fun at the agents’ stiffness. One of the themes in the film is that the government and agents are regularly boasting about their masculinity and virility. However, they are constantly emasculated by their captive and look spiritless and particularly awkward when they are actually talking to women.
This is all as viewers wonder about all of the characters, who they are and what is really occurring. It’s a dark picture, so you can be assured that there is no happy ending here. The movie simply reveals the weaknesses that these agents possess and how they are using their position to force others into complying with their orders. Without being explicit and despite the best efforts of the hero, the journey ends up being about identifying weaknesses and using it to both dehumanize people and turn them into cruel followers of an authoritarian agency. This is a very well-acted and compellingly upsetting tale.
The image quality on the disc is very strong. For this Blu-ray, the original negative was scanned in 4K resolution. It looks very clean and while this is a movie based around conversations between characters, with only minor chase sequences, everything looks impressive and the Greek locations are very sharp. Naturally, the seaside sequences are impressive and serve as a nice contrast to the ugliness occurring in the story.
The Blu-ray also contains a couple of nice bonuses. The first is a film historian commentary that sings the movie’s praises. He notes that the picture is incredibly tense and paranoia-inducing because of the lack of detail about the men. In this oppressive regime, one is never sure if strangers walking by or characters the leads interact with are actually informants for the government. At times he exaggerates some of these elements, but much of what is being suggested is accurate and adds to the uneasy atmosphere of the movie. He also goes into production details and events Europe was enduring at the time. The speaker makes a great argument for the film being remarkably powerful and one of the best of its kind. He also wonders why this movie, after receiving some acclaim, has been forgotten in recent years.
Additionally, you’ll get a snippet from a television interview with Michel Piccoli, who plays the Inspector, talking about the movie and his thoughts on it.
An excellent and really welcome bonus is a nearly half-hour discussion with a music authority on the feature’s score, which was composed by Ennio Morricone. The speaker gives an enlightening discussion about how it was cobbled together quickly and features a few re-imaginings of pieces from the composer’s oeuvre. This was a relatively low-budget movie, but Morricone liked the filmmaker and decided to help him out between projects by quickly putting something together. Despite the slapdash approach, it is a very strong score and serves the film well. The expert goes into different soundtrack LPs and CDs that were released and also mentions other projects by Morricone that are lesser-known but important.
The disc also contains a booklet with writing on the movie, press pics, as well as cast and crew details.
Weak Spot is a very strong political thriller that really exposes how horrific an extremist right-wing government can be, while also showing that their actions are, in part, due to personal insecurity and attempts trying too hard to present an untrue ideal and image of their gender. This Blu-ray from Radiance Films comes highly recommended.