The White Gloves of the Devil (1973)
aka Les gants blancs du diable
Genre: Crime | Drama | Thriller
Country: France | Director: László Szabó
Language: French | Subtitles: English (Optional, embedded in Mkv file)
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1 | Length: 80mn
Tvrip H264 Mkv – 768×576 – 25fps – 1.03gb
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259321/
An enigmatic man, blind in one eye is the hit man in this French thriller. The films opens with this man, in dark glasses, walking into a bar and shooting a barkeeper. With the help of an unscrupulous doctor, the gunman has donated one of his eyes to a government official. As the film proceeds, he is shown receiving training in shooting at targets using sound alone. As the gunman continues his devastating activities, it appears clear that his actions are part of an elaborate conspiracy.
Semi-sleazy stylistic French thriller with a heavy ‘Manchurian Candidate’ sort of vibe, and an outstanding soundtrack. Quite enjoyable.
The White Gloves of the Devil (1973)
If anyone wants the entire translation of the Bernadette Lafont monologue the translator refuses to translate towards the end of the movie, it is as follows:
“Yes, once I experienced love, and it was, it was wonderful. It was a very long time ago, and the guy was a plumber.
A plumber who was much shorter than me. He came up to my shoulder. He was very stocky, a little fat.
‘I like big guys. You’re a little fat, actually.’
‘You’re a little fat, it’s true. I’d never noticed before.’
So this plumber wasn’t really fat, but he was very stocky and very muscular. And covered in hair. And his feet smelled absolutely, terribly, unbelievably bad. It was dreadful.
Especially since he lived in a tiny little room. And I have to say, when we stayed there… it was horrible. When we’d been in that room for two or three hours, honestly, the place smelled of feet. It was unbelievable.
And this plumber also had an elderly mother who was very kind and had a habit of making jam.
So, in this tiny little room, there was a very large bed that really smelled awful. And then there was a wardrobe wedged right up against the bed, and on top of the wardrobe were all his mother’s jars of jam.
And I must tell you, as I was saying earlier, I really, really, really made love to this plumber very well.
And the thing is, he practically made the whole house shake. We made the floorboards shake, the ceilings shake, and you can imagine that we obviously made the wardrobe shake too, since it was wedged right up against the bed.
And so it caused an earthquake. We caused a jam earthquake! All the jars of jam fell onto the floor.
*Bursts out laughing.*
But I think it’s nice that I make you laugh. Listen, usually I get on people’s nerves. So that’s all right.
Anyway, I’ll continue the story. I’d say it ends badly.
So, as I was saying, we were shaking the walls and everything so much that the jars of jam fell down. We didn’t notice a thing because we were in such a state of trembling that the walls were moving and moving, and everything was spinning.
I was having a fantastic time! Oh, my goodness! The things I got up to in bed, I’m telling you!
And then everything fell down—the jam jars. And there were lots of plum jams in particular.
Disgusting!
And that was the sign that the misfortunes were beginning. Because one day, my plumber, while crossing the street—I was on the other side, waving hello to him—was looking only at me. He wanted me. He was desperate for me.
So he rushed forward. He didn’t see a wine merchant’s truck coming by, and all the barrels fell off. The truck braked, and one of the barrels hit him on the back of the head.
His brains were crushed, and blood flowed.
And immediately, I thought about the jam jars and everything.
And I remembered that Joliot-Curie had died the same way, crushed by wine barrels.
And that’s when I told myself that life went on, and that, ultimately, that was just how things were. That you shouldn’t—you shouldn’t…”