A Pure Formality

On a stormy night, a man without papers is picked up in the woods and taken to a remote, dilapidated police station. He claims to be Onoff (Gérard Depardieu), a famous and reclusive writer. The inspector (Roman Polanski), an ardent admirer of his work, interrogates him throughout the night about a gunshot fired nearby. But Onoff can barely remember the past few hours. And the longer the interrogation goes on, the more his world begins to crumble... After the worldwide success of “Cinema Paradiso”, director Giuseppe Tornatore ventured into radically different territory: a claustrophobic chamber piece somewhere between crime film and metaphysical parable about guilt, memory and identity. The duel between two acting giants, the dark, rain-soaked production design and Ennio Morricone’s score create an oppressive atmosphere. The result is an impressive film that anticipates the narrative patterns of later mystery hits and earned a place in competition at Cannes at the time. Note: Both lead actors are now at the centre of serious allegations. In 1977, Roman Polanski pleaded guilty in the US to having sex with a 13-year-old girl and fled to Europe before sentencing. Several other women have accused him of sexual assault, which he denies. In 2025, Gérard Depardieu was convicted in Paris of sexually assaulting two women on a film set and given an 18-month suspended sentence; he has appealed. In addition, an investigating judge has ordered him to stand trial for the alleged rape of actress Charlotte Arnould. Depardieu denies all allegations. We present the film as a work of film history, without in any way downplaying these acts.