Director: Jean-Pierre Mocky
Screenplay: Jean-Pierre Mocky, Alain Moury
Starring: Jean-Pierre Mocky, Anne Deleuze, Denis Le Guillou, Christian Duvaleix
Country: France
Running Time: 83 minutes
Year: 1970
The unique French phrase ‘engrenages’ comes to mind after viewing Parisian 1970 crime thriller and political satire Solo (1970), written, directed and starring the late “eternal provocateur” and maverick filmmaker Jean-Pierre Mocky.
The phrase literally translates to ‘gears’, referring to the system of interlocking tooth wheeled cogs that mesh together and spin in motion – but figuratively speaking it refers to an inescapable sequence of events or a chain reaction when a situation spins out of control. The phrase was used as the title for a fantastic gritty Paris cop drama, better known as Spiral (2005-2020).
Radiance has released the film on Bluray in 1080p, taken from a 4K restoration by Éclair Classics supervised by Mocky. It features an uncompressed mono PCM audio.
The film is about the aftermath of the Mai 68 revolution – which was a period of civil unrest which began as a series of student protests, culminating in the largest general strike in French history.
Mocky plays a selfish womanising violinist and jewel thief Vincent Cabral who finds himself embroiled in a struggle against the police, after his young student brother Virgile orchestrates and carries out a terrorist attack. The group massacre a room full of powerful men and prostitutes taking part in an orgy, and have another similar attack planned.
It’s Mocky’s feature film directorial debut and it was ultra-low budget, shooting at night, not even in Paris, and with a cast of extras. It’s a wonderfully fast paced nail-biting thriller. There’s also lots of humour in the script as the situation becomes more and more fraught.
Mocky is likeable and definitely looks the part of a swanky diamond thief as he attempts to track down his brother and put a stop to his terrorist plans. Denis Le Guillou as Virgile is slimy and disturbing as the younger brother. Anne Deleuze is feisty as young idealist woman Annabel who is part of the terrorist and striking in a jet-red anorak. Christian Duvaleix as Inspector Larrighi has a dynamic presence.
Film:
Picture and Sound
The 1080 picture, from a 4K restoration, funnily enough, described as “adequate” by Mocky’s assistant and friend Eric Le Roy in the disc extras, is crystal clear and the colour grading is realistic and has warmth and vibrancy in all the right places, despite the fact the film was mostly shot at night.
The mono PCM audio has a rich depth of quality, the film has a singular haunting soulful theme tune that rises through the speakers and accentuates the drama with a foreboding balladlike quality. It was composed by the Egyptian-French singer-songwriter Georges Moustaki, and Mocky said, in the extras, it was the theme song for Greek resistance fighters.
Special Features
Archival interview with screenwriter and star Jean-Pierre Mocky (2018, 13 mins): An on-camera interview we’re lucky to have as Mocky died a year later in 2019. He speaks about the genesis of the project, how he got it made on such a low budget (Mocky claims it came to the equivalent of €50k/£43k), difficulties getting the film into Cannes Film Festival and then the overwhelmingly positive response.
Interview with actor Anne Deleuze (2022, 17 mins): Deleuze spoke of the “make-shift” production and how it held a special place in her heart as it was her first movie. She also spoke about working with Mocky and how much of a character he was with some very funny stories.
Interview with Jean-Pierre Mocky’s assistant and friend Eric Le Roy (2022, 15 mins): Another great interview where Roy speaks about the themes of the movie and Mocky’s legacy, and how Solo relates to his other works,
Limited edition booklet featuring archival interviews with Mocky: This includes two interviews, from 1970, which provide a fascinating insight into Mocky’s way of thinking. They are far spicier than the 2018 on camera interview. He spoke of his frustration of finding it hard to get his divisive edgy films made, and how he didn’t like the necessity of being somewhat of a one-man-band, having to do multiple jobs just to get the film made.
Disc/package:
Radiance released Solo on 22nd June, 2026.