Another polemic which had a strong influence on French cinema of the 1970s was a growing public hostility towards social injustice and corruption within the main institutions.  The 1970s saw a number of high-profile scandals involving police, politicians and leading industrialists implicated in some atrocious instances of fraud and gangland activity.  Literature, television and cinema played an important part in airing these concerns and enabling the country to clean up its act. 

The period from 1977 to 1981 is dominated by crime thrillers which see helpless victims trying to stand up to a flawed state which is manipulated by villainous politicians and corrupt law-enforcers.  This genre is often referred to as neo-polar, a clever mélange of contemporary social concerns with the popular format of the polar genre which was so popular in the 1950s and 60s.

Writer-director José Giovanni was one of a number of influential French film directors who established the neo-polar genre.  (Others include: Yves Boisset and Michel Deville). Une robe noire pour un tueur is not Giovanni's best film but it represents the genre well.  As a conventional thriller, it is pretty plodding and lack-lustre.  Its strength would most probably have lain in its relevance to a contemporary audience. 

Claude Brasseur is a rare actor who can play hardened villains yet still arouse sympathy, a characteristic which makes him ideal for the part he plays in this film.  There are also strong performances from Annie Girardot, a tough nut if ever there was one, and Jacques Perrin, whom you can never quite make out which side he is on.

Like many films of its era, this film has not dated well.  It relies almost entirely on a cynical distrust of the police and the legal system for its impact and relevance.  However, although major scandals of the kind which inspired this film are less noticeable today, the film ought to strike a chord with a modern cinema audience, and the film’s ending still has the power to shock.