The Judge and the Assassin

Judge Rousseau (Philippe Noiret) is an ambitious magistrate in 1890s France, a man who wants a career as much as he wants justice. When the drifter Joseph Bouvier (Michel Galabru) is caught after a trail of rapes and murders along the country roads, Rousseau decides he should stand trial as a sane man and not be sent back to an asylum. Bertrand Tavernier lets the two of them talk, and the question of what happens to Bouvier turns on a judge's own advancement.