In the 80's, director Jacques Deray had it big. He collaborated with superstar Jean-Paul Belmondo in box office hit "Le marginal" (1983), and the less successful "Le solitaire" five years later. It was with an adaptation of Robin Cook's novel "On ne meurt que deux fois" that he made his most ambitious work, which, because of its aspiring nature itself, partly failed to be what he had envisaged it.
The film's protagonist is inspector Staniland (Michel Serrault), who is called in to investigate the murder of the pianist Charles Berliner. While searching for suspects, he finds some tapes where Berliner himself confesses his fear of a certain Marc, saying indicatively "He might kill me someday". It is at this moment that Berliner's former mistress , Barbara (Charlotte Rampling) arrives, and confesses to having murdered the pianist herself. So, who is guilty, and, is she telling the truth? These are the questions that the bemused inspector has to answer.
While I can understand Deray's will to make a film noir, his direction wasn't up to the task. The film keeps dragging on, with long scenes that serve the plot little but to show the late Michel Audiard's dialogues (this was his last script, he died some months later). It is through his more commercial work, like "Le marginal", that Deray showed his directing at its best. Fast-paced, action-packed scenes that move the plot were the features of the latter film. It is indicative that "On ne meurt que deux fois" and "Le marginal" have the same duration, yet the second one feels shorter, due to Deray's excellent work.
The actors saved this film from failing. The duo Serrsult-Rampling weren't as strong as the one he had formed with Isabelle Adjani in "Mortelle randonnée", but it is interesting to see Rampling's attempts at seducing the inspector, who is there to do his job. Serrault was made to play roles of policemen, and this film clearly shows that. Regarding Rampling, she was perfect as the femme fatale. Seductive, bold, and intelligents, she served as an excellent counterpoint to Serrault's reserved hero.
The music in the film, provided by Claude Balling, was of average quality. I wasn't impressed by the jazzy instrumentals, the only song that I liked being the one heard during a scene at a discotheque, which wasn't even composed by Balling, it being just a pop piece of the era.
All in all, "On ne meurt que deux fois" is a film of average quality, that is saved by its actors' convincing performances. It is commendable, though, for the being one of the few successful film noirs in France at the decade, surpassing one million admissions, when films of its kind were mostly ignored. A good effort by a capable director and cast, that could have been much better, had Deray taken example of the more commercial aspects of his work.
