Le cimetière des durs (1987)

Based on a novel by Francis Ryck, the searing French crime drama Le Cimetière des durs (1987) paints a bleak picture of contemporary France. Ryck’s novel is part of his acclaimed “Black Series”--a cycle of tense, action-packed books about double-crossing spies, feuding crime lords, and corrupt cops. Director Yvan Butler faithfully maintains Ryck’s cynicism in a made-for-TV drama in which primal emotions and base appetites govern characters’ actions. Co-star Marianne Basler injects a needed dose of eroticism into her role as an exotic paramour who lounges elegantly naked by the pool and in bed beside her man.