nothing revolutionary here while just impeccably elegant and restrain cinema . garde a vue be confine almost exclusively to a drab police station and and mostly to one interrogation room and but director claude miller ( who make the wonderful film this sweet sickness and among others ) intercalate spare glimpse of exterior tableau a minimalist locale scenography . miller restraint and especially early on and be breathtaking and and his exquisite handling of the consequently pivotal interior mise en scene make for captivate view . lino ventura be superb a usual and succeed to legitimize a character that and on paper and be cliche represent the laconic and hard nose and world weary homicide detective . ventura live the role and make it completely believable and even though the script allow u little access to his inner working while the film end at the very moment it appear he will be force to confront his failure for the first time . michel serrault be equal to the task a the suspected child killer who shrewdly spar with the single mind flic . the exchange between the two be more often than not pregnant with tension and the aura of a constantly metamorphose play field for a battle of wit . serrault character be by turn deplorably haughty and cunning and and pitiable while then later . the message of garde a vue and if one be to search for one and be a condemnation of police methodology and the kind of pressure that make a cop over zealous to and if necessary and close case at the expense of justice . for most of it length though the film shine a nothing more than an exemplar of how to turn a potentially soporific set bound scenario into a suspenseful drama of the utmost cinematic economy .