Alternate Best Actor 1979: Patrick Dewaere in Série Noire

Patrick Dewaere did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Franck Poupart in Série Noire. 

Série Noire is a compelling character study of a strange door to door salesman. 

The film in many ways seemingly takes some kind of crime and punishment style narrative though not at all in an expected way, and what stands out about this is that we follow a most unusual character for such a story, with a most unusual performance to lead such a tale. Patrick Dewaere's performance is very much the lifeblood of the film, not just because he's the main character whom we follow, but just everything about his performance is what breathes life into the material. We enter right into it as Dewaere is already just something all himself as he approaches his house with a physical manner that just isn't your typical leading man physical manner. There is urgency without direction kind of an innate neurosis in his lack of calm as he approaches the house of an elderly woman to try to make a sale while looking for a man who owes him money. Dewaere's delivery in this scene is brilliant because it is just on the edge of too much without ever going over it as he tries to basically flim-flam his way through to making a deal. Dewaere's terrific in that his manic delivery manages to have a sense of charm while also being clearly a man just haphazardly trying to make something work without any actual sense of any skill involved. Dewaere is convincing in his off-beat way of making it work, of course, his payment ends up being in a strange way via the prostitution of the old woman's niece Mona (Marie Trintignant). 

This scene is where I think you first get the strange sense of this performance, which I actually wholly love, that being that Dewaere kind of gives what is a comedic performance in what is a dramatic story by all other traits. Take when Mona disrobes where Dewaere is brilliant in his wholly hilarious delivery of telling the teenage girl that her dress has fallen off. Dewaere's reaction is pitch perfect in his eyes being both absolutely fascinated while also being strangely frightened by the scenario, before making his way out of the situation before he could do anything wrong. We follow him in his equally curious relationship with his wife Jeanne (Myriam Boyer), in scenes that would be nearly described as slapstick, though not quite that in their strange domestic squabbles. There again though is something that so oddly works about them largely because of Dewaere's completely oddball energy he brings to every moment. This rush of intensity as he is interacting with her and getting annoyed by her. He actually pulls it off as he gives this particular exasperation that successfully grants a sense of a long and for him, arduous, relationship as the two bicker, while Dewaere though still filters it through a madcap craziness of a man just barely holding it together mentally. What is fascinating though is again this madness is more comic in Dewaere's hands though the dramatic sense isn't lost, there's something just very broadly entertaining about the craziness of the approach. 

The navigation of this film with this performance is honestly what makes the film stand out and work as it does. As you take a scene where the man, Tikides, who owes Franck money shows up outside a phone booth with a hostile reaction. That could be a pretty straightforward moment of the con man talking his way out of a situation while being physically menaced. The way Dewaere performs it though is honestly more akin to a silent comedian in the way he closes the phone booth and defends himself from the man. Or take the scene where he meets up with his boss, who rather cheerfully calls on Franck for having stolen funds from the man. Dewaere's reactions in these scenes are just a sheer kind of strange perfection as with a genuine sense of anxiety and guilt, there is something very comical in the peculiar way that Franck barely can build even the ability to deny. Dewaere is wonderful though as you see all the thoughts going through his head at the time and the eccentric Franck frustrated but not really able to come up with a way to talk himself out of the situation before the boss reveals he's called the police with the impression that he just wants the young man to learn a lesson more than anything. Dewaere again is great as he exhaustively protests his imprisonment with a constant barrage of complaints, which again is just so beautifully composed by Dewaere's delivery which somehow manages to meet the expectation of obnoxiousness to his captors, while not making his own performance obnoxious. A brilliant trick, which speaks really to the entirety of this performance.  

Franck is released from jail early, not due to his complaining but rather to the financial intercession of Mona, not his wife. Here is where we get to an essential facet of his performance where we see Franck become obsessed with Mona after his strange obsession with him. Dewaere's portrayal of this again is what makes this whole idea work because he doesn't exactly realize this typical naturalistic chemistry with Trintignant, it is rather specifically this lustful obsession, however, even that isn't so straightforward. Dewaere presents it with this sense of surprise and disbelief, as though this scenario seems impossible and even acting upon the scenario isn't something he seems to completely buy as told by his manic eyes that pierce into Mona as though he must be missing something. Of course, this is where the film takes an extremely dark turn as prompted by Mona, he decides on a future of them built on robbing Mona's aunt with the help of Tikides, leading to the death of both Tikides and the old woman by the hands of Franck. Here's where I have to mention Ken Ogata from Vengeance is Mine who also portrayed a series of blithe murders, but he and Dewaere couldn't be more different in their performances despite both showing men who seem to murder without a second concern. With Ogata, it is pure psychopathy, with Dewaere he manages to make these moments a strange extension of the character's innate eccentricity and neurosis, and even when he commits the acts his portrayal is that of personal surprise more than anything almost an accident, though not that more hapless tomfoolery. Dewaere doesn't depict guilt though, just a man being himself, the problem is Franck has no idea what that is. 

Dewaere's performance is what makes this character work because the character is a total mess and does horrible things, yet you still like him to some strange degree. Again there's just something about Dewaere's work that just goes for it that is strangely endearing, and perhaps it is even the hapless lack of ego at every point that Dewaere conveys so well. Maybe it is his ability just to be so convincing despite being so strange and so disparate in every scene. Take for example two different examples of the character. One where Mona seems to temporarily reject him and Dewaere's physically falling into self-destruction should be a purely violent act, but Dewaere's performance of it somehow grants a bizarre levity to each and every self-inflicted head butt as Dewaere releases the anguish against himself. This is in stark contrast to the scene where his wife attempt to legitimately connects with him again. Dewaere is equally outstanding in this scene if so very different in how tempered he is and in his eyes showing some degree of reflection albeit only momentarily. The moment seems a bit of strict humanity in his work and even moving for a moment, before of course, he falls back into mania again by dealing with his wife by simply murdering her as well, if again in the act of true fool rather than a hardened criminal as presented by Dewaere unusual approach. Dewaere though presents just a minor bit of self-awareness in the moment, followed by when his boss confronts him, though his boss leaving with his life and all of Franck's loot. Dewaere in the scene though shows the man essentially having a moment of pronounced realization of his misdeeds, again though Dewaere's reactions don't denote guilt, just an understanding that he's obviously screwed up in some way. The greatness of this performance is making this character work and make this film work, by Dewaere going off on a limb constantly and just somehow not falling off despite going all over the place in terms of playing around with tone in theoretically very dramatic material. The ending moment of Franck having committed several heinous crimes and with almost nothing left embracing Mona in a full-on romantic swing works, because of Dewaere and the sheer brilliant chaos of his work here. That moment, which I'd probably hate or at least reject in most films featuring multiple murders, I kind of loved because it just seemed right for the journey of the eccentric of this character as brought to life by Patrick Dewaere. An amazing performance that is just a series of nearly baffling big swings that somehow all work in tandem to craft a one of a kind character in Franck Poupart.