Coup de torchon

Lucien Cordier is the chief of police in the small West African village of Bourkassa. Nothing much happens in Bourkassa, and Lucien is an empty figurehead. He has never made an arrest, and the local politicians complain about the pointlessness of an empty prison. Lucien is a meek creature--a weak man whose position of authority is a joke. Lucien's life is not much different at home. His wife, Huguette, openly cheats on him with Nono, a man who lives in their house because Huguette claims he is her brother (everyone in town notes that they look nothing alike). Huguette chastises Lucien for being weak, and not only refuses his sexual advances, but mocks them. Lucien finds solace in the arms of Rose, a battered wife, but even she doesn't seem to have much respect for him. Suddenly seized by a Messianic fervour, Noiret decides to "clean the slate" by systematically murdering everyone who's ever stepped on him …