FRANCE
SECTION SPECIALE
1975 – 35mm – c - 115’
Direction: Constantin Costa Gavras
Screenplay: Constantin Costa Gavras, Jorge Semprun
Cinematography: Andréas Winding
Editing: Françoise Bonnot
Set design: Max Douy
Music: Eric Demarsan
Costumes: Hélène Nourry
Cast: Louis Seigner, Roland Bertin, Michael Lonsdale, Pierre Dux, Jacques François, Ivo Garrani, Claudio Gora, François Maistre, Claude Piéplu, Henri Serre
Producer: Jacques Perrin, Giorgio Silvagni
Production: Reggane Films, Artistes Associes, Goriz Films, Janus Films
SYNOPSIS
Paris, August 1941. A group of young pro-communists kills a German soldier in an act of violence. The government of Vichy, in order to prevent the German reprisals, decides that an exemplary sentence is necessary. In order to obtain an adequate number of capital sentences in a short time, a ‘special court’ is created, willing to enforce a retroactive law to reach its aim. The accused persons are chosen at random, even if they are accused of minor faults. After a series of infamous verdicts, the macabre ritual is broken by the passionate self-defence of a journalist included on the blacklist...
CRITICAL NOTE
“(...) Section Speciale is successful for us also because it does not make any sensational announcements and plunges a disgraceful fact in a portray of everyday misery, with parts of squalid humour and chilling moral delirium (...).” (Giovanni Grazzini)
AWARDS
1975 Festival de Cannes: Best Director Award
