FILM: La BalanceYEAR: 1982
DIRECTOR: Bob Swaim
PINBALL MODEL(S): Devil's Dare (1982, Gottlieb),
Black Hole (1981, Gottlieb),
Mars: God of War (1981, Gottlieb),
Spectrum (1981, Bally),
Rocky (1982, Gottlieb),
Haunted House (1982, Gottlieb)
GAME LOCATION(S): Cafe-bar (1st screencap), Arcade
NOTES: Despite critical acclaim, an American director, and its role in revitalizing the legitimacy of the French "policier," La Balance is a truly wonderful film that (sadly) continues to fly under the radar of a wider international audience.
The 'Devil's Dare' pin shows up twice in the film (in two separate Parisian locations), which might be interpreted as merely incidental if the machine's name wasn't such an appropriate descriptor of the hero's dilemma. As such, I'd be shocked if this repetition wasn't on purpose.
Much like the scene in the Jean-Jacques Beineix thriller Diva (released just a year prior to La Balance) the pinball arcade is framed as an environment of audio-visual pandemonium in which anomalous behavior might go unnoticed. Here, the police engage in the forceful intimidation of a would-be informant and are finally successful in breaking him after previous efforts throughout the film have failed. The overwhelming aural din of the arcade serves to pressurize not only the filmic space, but the psychic resolve of the hero as well; ultimately resulting in a breakdown of his will.
