The Agitator: Three Provocations — The Agitator( Blu Ray Boxset)
The Agitator: Three Provocations from the Wild World of Jean-Pierre Mocky is a Blu Ray boxset focusing in on three 1980 films by Jean-Pierre Mocky- a prolific French director, who also acted, wrote novels, and was an in-demand raconteur. His films blend & blur genres in interesting and creative ways. With the set moving from the horror, mystery and fantasy mix of Litan. Onto the thriller/ dark comedy/ action blend of Kill The Referee, finishing with quirky edged mystery/ thriller Agent Trouble. Each film is given a wonderful new bold and bright 4k scan, with a good selection of old and new extra, and a eighty page book.
Jean-Pierre Mocky (1929-2019) was born in Nice. He first started acting in the year 1946- going onto rack-up ninety one credits. Between 1959 and 2022 he had sixty eight feature length director credits to his name. These went from corporate comedy/ satire Snobs (1962), onto horror parody/ mystery The Big Scare (1964), a few 70’s of crime/ thrillers such as Solo and Love Hate. The 80’s saw he move from comedy thriller The Unsewing Machine onto orphan girl comedy Divine Enfant. In the 90’s he made comedies like Leon’s Husband, serial killer thriller Black For Remberance, and comedy/drama Vidange. The 2000’s saw him move from crime comedy Grabuge!, onto large genitals focused comedy Dossier Toroto, through to crime drama The Yellow Fox.
First up we have 1982’s Litan. This is an atmospheric, heady, at points decidedly demented blend of horror, mystery, and fantasy. It is about a middle-aged couple, seemingly stuck in a small French village where a festival of the dead is taking place.
Stuck-in-a-location plotting is nothing new/ fresh, but boy does Mocky create his own and wholly distinctive creation. The film is constantly alive with unease, confusion, and the feeling that anything can & will happen.
During the credits see a selection of snapshots of the strange & errier village- going from the tall but rambling streets, over a metal cross-covered mountain, and water rushing by aging stone industrial buildings. After this things kick off with a series of jarring/ strange imagery- a group of red-suited and silver-masked men playing waving jazz by a rushing river, a group dancing with elderly people masks on, a man on unicycle falling off an open-air highwire, coffins flowing down a rocky river, and another man faces covered in blood.
We find out the images are in the mind of Nora(Marie-José Nat) a decidedly panicked middle-aged woman, she goes over and picks up a picture of her with the blood-covered face from her dream- finding out this is her partner, and his name is Jock( Jean-Pierre Mocky). She rushes outside to find a very heavy fog-bound village- where masked figures dart around corners, and strange faces/characters lurch out of the fog. We see a bald and moustached blind man put behind the wheel of a van by his wife- then he drives into a man- pinning him to a wall and killing him.
As this is going on Nora is trying to find a bus to where she’s told her husband is- she jumps on an old fire engine, which is being driven by a group of people with shiny shiver masks on- who briefly pipe their horns, and jarringly snap at Nora. The engine comes to rest- with a coffin being removed from its undercarriage by a group of old men in fez hats….you see what I mean by a very odd/ strange film, and this is just the begin!.
As things unfold we have a boy scout in a strange old man mask, an explosion on the metal-covered mountain, dead/ alive teens who talk with their minds, strange darting blue neon water snakes, throat-slashing & knife stabbing murders, weird machinery & strange buildings, faces left in pupils, skull-faced figures appearing here & there, and much more oddness/un-balancement.
The film runs at the one hour and twenty-seven-minute mark- and is crammed with the strange, uneasy, and creepily surreal. We have sense/ logic running alongside nonsense, and the unsettling atmospherics moving alongside the low-key fantastic/ puzzling. Really I’ve never seen anything quite like Litan, and it’s a great start to this set.
Extras for this first film take in the following: Small Town Masquerade: Love, Death, And Dreams In Litan(17.29) a new visual essay from journalist Anton Bitel. He moves from break downs of themes in the film, talking about how instead of building up reality- the whole picture breaks it down. He discusses the origins and influences on the film. This gives you some interesting enough insights on the film, and nice anylising the whole thing. A 1982 interview with Mocky( 13.00) this is entitled ‘Funny Bird’, and sees the director wearing a trench coat been interviewed in caves & outside. He talks about wanting to make Frances first fantasy film with Litan, and how he was tired of making the same type of films. He moves on to talk about the film, and his other work, as well as getting some great clips from his other work. A 1982 French TV behind-the-scenes short( 26.18).
Film number two is 1984’s Kill The Referee ( À mort l'arbitre!). For this film, Mocky blends elements of thriller, dark comedy, and later some quiet hair-raising action/ stunt scenes. It regards a group of football supporters/ hooligans anger towards a referee- that get way, way out of control- and don’t worry if you're not a football fan, it doesn't matter- as this element is a tiny part of the films make-up.
The film opens with the yellow & black team supporters arriving at the football stadium- and from the off the supporters are very rowed up. They are led by Rico(Michel Serrault) a short, balding middle-aged man- who as we move we find out is misogynist/ handsy, brutish, and has somewhat of an inferiority complex. He has a horn that he is constantly blowing. Some of the other key supporters are the tall & balky Albert( Claude Brosset), and neck braced & hearing-aid wearing Teddy(Laurent Malet).
The match kicks off with bouffant-haired Maurice Bruno( Eddy Mitchell) been the referee for the game. The yellow & black team keep fowling the other team- been given one justifiable card after another- this of course gets the supporters rowdy up even more. With crash cans been thrown onto the pitch, and both teams rushing for safety.
Referer Bruno gets dressed, ready to get out of there with his dark-haired girlfriend Carole(Martine Vannier)- but supporters have become a baying mob- so they sneak out in the back of the workman’s van- making their way to a shop centre.
As things rapidly escalate the supporters go to the shopping centre- one of their number is accidentally killed- which increases the focus of the mob. As the action moves from underground car parks, nighttime high-rises, a factory, and a mine.
Following the group and their Referrer pray is L'inspecteur Granowski( Jean-Pierre Mocky) a disinterested/fed-up-with-the-job cop, who constantly has a cigarette in the corner of his mouth & wears a glossy black trenchcoated.
The film runs at a tight one hour and twenty-four minutes, and really it rolls along wonderfully as things get more & more out of hand. We get an interesting often counterbalancing score built around bright & buoyant synth lines, which have quite a jaunting classical feel about them.
Kill The Referee was a real surprise- as its simple premise escalates to some very tense places. The film is very apt considering recent riots in the UK- as it deals with bias, misinformation, and unsettling mob rule.
For this film we get the following: A new interview journalist and broadcaster Philippe Auclair regarding the film(17.04) He begins by describing the film as both terrifying and hilarious, and talking about how unique the film is- both in sport/football films, and the directors filmography. We find out that Mocky was not a football fan himself. Moving on he talks about how football became quite poplar in the 70’s & 80’s in France, and it was quite daring for the director to make a film with such a negative/ downbeat edge. He talks about how the film commented on the time, but also looked ahead to the riots & other football tragedies. He talks about lead actor Michel Serrault- we find out he had a rather vaired film career, and he stared off in comedy. Lastly he talks about how in real life referees & players have been killed by fans. This was a excellent featurette- and I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for future extra work from Mr Auclair. A 2022 interview with assistant director Eric Leroy ( 13.54), a 1987 TV interview with Mocky(17.42), and a 1983 onset report(4.33)
The third and final film on the set is 1987’s Agent Trouble- this I’d say is the most straight/ mainstream of the films featured on this set. It’s a mystery/thriller with a few quirky edges to its unfold- with at points an almost low-key Twin Peaks feel to some of the set-up/characters.
The film opens on a deep snow-bound road- as we see a tall, trench-coated, goateed figure walking along it, as heavy snow falls. A bus full of seemingly all-asleep people whizzes by, he puts out his thumb- but it just speeds by- he flips a middle finger. Just a little bit down the road the man comes across the stopped bus- there’s no driver onboard, as he’s in a nearby phone box ringing up a moustached & sleek black-haired man with a grey streak in it. We find out his name is Mr Alex(Richard Bohringer).
The man on the bus finds out everyone is dead- so decides to steal all of their belongings, before heading on a train into the city. We find out his name is Victorien (Tom Novembre)- he does'nt really believe in working for a living, and often speaks his mind.
After getting off the train Victorien goes to the city museum- here we find his very bookish aunt Amanda Weber (Catherine Deneuve) who wears specks & has a tight perm. He tells her about his encounter with the bus, and fair soon Mr Alex is tracking down all involved/ aware of the bus incident.
Added into the mix we have reluctant hooker Juile(Kristin Scott Thomas) who at one point or another had a thing with Victorien. And sleek-lightly-sleazed government officer Tony( Hervé Pauchon).
The film runs at just over the hour and a half mark- having a straight plot/ unfold- as well as a fairly straight mystery thriller genre make-up. Yes, we do have the odd Mocky moment- like a shoot out at the back of a fancy dress shop, with one of those involved wearing a goofy mask, and a man with a false belly getting shot up.
Agent Trouble is just fine as a quirky-edged mystery/ thriller- but rather pales in comparison to the first two films where seemingly anything can & will happen, and we get wonderfully genre crossbreeding. I have a feeling this one may be a grower- with the more subtle touches being revealed, with rewatches. So in no way a bad film, just not quite as distinctive/ original as the first two films.
For this film we get the following archive extras: A 2022 Interview with Mocky's daugter Olivia Mokiejewski (4.55). A 2022 Interview with Mocky’s friend/ collaborator Eric Leroy(13.10). A 1987 Interview with actor Richard Bohringer(4.14), and a 1987 on-set interview with Catherine Deneuve(4.30).
The set comes presented in a hard slip case- each film has it’s own Blu-ray case, which each feature reversable artwork. The set is finished off with a eighty page perfectly bound booklet. This takes in full film credits & a good selection of stills, a bio of Mocky, as well as a good/ interesting selection of write-ups about the films to hand, Mocky himself, and interviews. So this booklet is excellent/ informative addition to the set.
The Agitator: Three Provocations from the Wild World of Jean-Pierre Mocky is a wonderful presented and curated boxset. Really wetting ones appetite to check out more of this creative and distinctive French directors work. A release for those who enjoy genre blending cinema, that’s provocative, clever, and at points dangerous.