Coup de tête

For other uses of "Coup de tête", see Coup de tête (disambiguation).

Coup de tête
Directed by	Jean-Jacques Annaud
Produced by	Alain Poiré
Written by	Alain Godard (story) Francis Veber
Starring	Patrick Dewaere
Music by	Pierre Bachelet
Cinematography	Claude Agostini
Editing by	Noëlle Boisson
Distributed by	Gaumont/Societe de Francais Production
Release date(s)	February 14, 1979
Running time	89 min
Country	France
Language	French

Coup de tête (English: Hothead) is a 1979 French film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and scripted by Francis Veber. It stars Patrick Dewaere and Jean Bouise, who won the César Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance.

Plot

François Perrin is a belligerent factory worker who plays football for a local amateur team, in a club owned by a rich businessman who also owns the factory where Perrin, as well as most of the population of Trincamp, works. His attitude doesn't endear him to anyone, and the situation is not helped when, at a training session, he pushes Berthier, the star and captain of the team, who demands that Perrin be expelled. Soon thereafter, he is also fired from his job, and the whole town turns against him and he is even prohibited from entering the local bar. When a drunk Berthier tries to rape a woman one night, Perrin is immediately framed for the deed, and ends up in jail after being brutalized by the police. Two months later, the Trincamp team is to participate in an important game for the France's Cup, but the bus carrying the team gets into an accident, and out of desperation to replace the injured players, Perrin is released from jail to help out the team. While on the way to the stadium, he manages to evade police and finds the rape victim and confront her. Rather than resulting in conflict, he actually finds someone who believes him, since she was not positive in her earlier identification, and she decides to investigate the testimonies that convicted Perrin, while he goes on to play and scores both of his team's goals in a very tight victory. Perrin is now the town's hero, and he uses that position and the knowledge of who did what and who made false reports to the police to plot a subtle but effective revenge on those who have wronged him.

Cast

• Patrick Dewaere - François Perrin
• France Dougnac - Stéphanie
• Dorothée Jemma - Marie
• Maurice Barrier - Berri, le patron du 'Penalty'
• Robert Dalban - Jeanjean, le vieux dirigeant
• Mario David - Rumin, le kinési
• Hubert Deschamps - Le directeur de la prison
• Dora Doll - La religieuse en chef
• François Dyrek - Le chauffeur du premier camion
• Patrick Floersheim - Berthier
• Michel Fortin - Langlumey
• Jacques Frantz - Le chauffeur du second camion
• Gérard Hernandez - L'inspecteur
• Claude Legros - Poilane, le serveur
• Corinne Marchand - Madame Sivardière
• Jean Bouise - Le président Sivardière
• Jean-Pierre Darroussin - Le photographe (uncredited)

External links

• Coup de tête at the Internet Movie Database
• Coup de tête at AllRovi