In Coup de Torchon the French transposed Jim Thompson's novel Pop. 1280, a gritty thriller about a seemingly slow-witted Southern sheriff, to colonial Africa, 1938. A black comedy and a disturbing parable, "it's the only way to speak about humiliation, racism and power," says director Bertrand Tavernier. Philippe Noiret calls on the ambiguities of his demeanor to portray the film's dubious hero, who represents the entire police force in a sleepy Senegalese village where he is cuckolded by his wife (Stéphane Audran), taunted by the populace, beaten by thugs and fellow officials alike, and generally considered an annoyance. Only his mistress (Isabelle Huppert) gives a measure of respect to this Walter Mitty/Rodney Dangerfield type whose emergence we witness as he turns his fantasies into action. Deciding to clean up the town and avenge his personal grudges at the same time, he proves himself to be the most clear-thinking madman in a thoroughly corrupt world. Purposely the very antithesis of a typical thirties melodrama set in the colonies, Coup de Torchon takes a perspective that jars the viewer into complicity: "It is a film in which a lot of people spy on each other," the director said, "and I wanted the camera to have the same feeling."