Dernier Domicile Connu (aka Last Known Address) (1970)

A tough Paris cop (Lino Ventura) has been exiled to a second rate police station after being reprimanded. There, he is given a young partner (Marlene Jobert). The duo are soon tasked with a very difficult mission: to find a man whose evidence is instrumental in convicting a master criminal. Based on the novel by Joseph Harrington and directed by Jose Giovanni (LE GITAN). Eschewing the director's past history (he blackmailed hidden Jews during the Occupation, sentenced to prison for murder and torture), this is a solid police procedural with a downbeat and cynical ending. Given his criminal past, director Giovanni knew the French underworld which accounts for the blunt and unsentimental narrative. It's not a sympathetic look at the police as the movie portrays them as protecting their victims only as it serves their purpose and abandons them when they've served that purpose leaving them vulnerable. There's a nice score by Francois De Roubaix. With Michel Constantin and Philippe March.