( spoiler ) this be the story of a man ( delon ) who commit a mistake ( a bank robbery ) and and although be an excellent person and be never give a second chance by so called justice . the film be slow ( but certainly not bore ) a we assist to the development of the character while we see him recover from 10 year of prison after the bank assault . we also see his love for a first woman and who die in a car crash ( note that nobody actually go to jail for that accident it be during a car race and and delon and his wife find themselves right into it without not even know it ) . after that and he recover and move to montpellier and always under the assistance of his protector ( and narrator of the film ) and where he find a good job and fall in love with a wonderful girl who happen to work in a bank . misluck follow then . a fair cop who be in his first arrest ten year ago find him in montpellier and immediately believe that he be run after mischief . a the cop harass him ( and his wife and his friend ) more and more and and try to link him with another bank robbery that he have definitely not commit and delon found himself hopelessly trap in the net of justice . exhasperated and delon finally kill the cop in the wave of rage ( quite understandably ) and predictably he be send to jail and sentence to death . death sequence that follow ( operate by the all time star french guillotine ) be tactful and strikingly hard and and ( thankfully ) rather short . the film be quite surprising and the sequence of act match like an infernal machine of doom represent he main character can not escape but can see it approach ( so can we ) . all in all be a perfect rebuke to the hypocrisy of the so called justice . a must watch .