L'Amour braque (English: Mad Love) is a 1985 French romantic drama film directed by Andrzej Żuławski and starring Sophie Marceau, Francis Huster, and Tchéky Karyo. The film is about a bank robber on his way to Paris who meets a neurotic dreamer whom he considers to be an idiot. The dreamer follows him everywhere and soon falls in love with his girlfriend, resulting in a tragic ending. The film is loosely inspired by Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1869 novel The Idiot. The film received a Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award Nomination for Best Film in 1986.
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Plot
Following a successful bank robbery, Micky (Tchéky Karyo) tries to take back his girlfriend Mary (Sophie Marceau) who had been taken from him by the brothers Venin. On his way to Paris, Micky meets Leon (Francis Huster), a neurotic dreamer who is considered an idiot by Micky and his associates. Uncertain about Micky's actions, Leon follows him everywhere and eventually falls in love with Mary. This strange love triangle leads to a tragic ending.
Cast
Sophie Marceau as Mary
Francis Huster as Léon
Tchéky Karyo as Micky
Christiane Jean as Aglaé
Jean-Marc Bory as Simon Venin
Wladimir Yordanoff as Matalon
Marie-Christine Adam as Marie's Mother
Michel Albertini as André
Saïd Amadis as Le caïd
Roland Dubillard as Le commissaire
Ged Marlon as Gilbert Venin
Serge Spira as Le baron
Julie Ravix as Gisèle
Azeddine Bouayad as Harry Cleven
Pascal Elso
Production
It was the first cinematic collaboration between Sophie Marceau and Andrzej Żuławski, who later made three more films together.
Żuławski cast Marceau after seeing her in Fort Saganne. "I was struck by Sophie's quality of immediate truth," said Żuławski. "It could have been her youth. But when we met, it was obvious that it came from inside her."
"He gets things out of his actors that they never knew were there," said Marceau of the director. "Sometimes it hurts, yet you are changed by it."
Reception
The film was a commercial flop.