Color, 1970, 86 mins. 56 secs.
Directed by Jean-Pierre Mocky
Starring Jean-Pierre Mocky, Sylvie Bréal, Anne Deleuze, Denis Le Guillou, René-Jean Chauffard, Éric Burnelli, Alain Fourès
Radiance Films (Blu-ray) (US/UK RA/B HD), ESC Editions (Blu-ray) (France RB HD) / WS (1.66:1) (16:9)

After delivering a very welcome Solotriptych of English-friendly releases in Solo2024's Three Provocations from the Wild World of Jean-Pierre Mocky, Radiance Films returns to the eccentric and fascinating writer-director-actor with one of his earlier films, Solo, shot in 1969 in the immediate wake of the massive civil unrest of 1968 and released early in 1970. As with most of his films, it's a sardonic and often uncomfortable experience mixing humor and a bitter world view on the way to an unsettling ending. This one in particular marked Mocky's shift to darker crime films after his run of quirky comedies, followed immediately with 1971's excellent L'albatros and soon after by the equally worthy No Pockets in a Shroud and L'ibis rouge. Already a seasoned actor well before he started directing, Mocky stepped in to take the lead for this one when the big marquee names he approached turned it down due to the politically volatile subject matter. In turn that led to Mocky realizing he could headline his more commercially challenging scripts, something he continued to the very end of his life.

During a debauched nocturnal sex party in the countryside, several rich old men and their far younger female companions are gunned down by a trio of ultra-radical revolutionaries. Soon after, violinist Vincent (Mocky), who has no problem lifting the occasional jewel off of his audience members, learns Solothat his brother, Virgile (Le Guillou), was one of the shooters. Though he hasn't seen him in years, Vincent Solodecides to track down his brother before the cops get to him -- with another radical, Annabel (Deleuze), pulled into the quest across Paris.

Though undeniably influenced by the wave of ice-cold French "polar" thrillers that had made a huge impact throughout the '60s, Solo is unmistakably a Mocky film with its jaded view of the predatory rich and their influence on the way the law is implemented on the population. The scenes with Vincent and Annabel are especially strong, and the film's striking look (unfolding completely at night with heavy color coding, especially red) anticipates what would come later all the way into the '80s with the chic Cinéma du look trend of the '80s. Despite the subject matter, the quirky character beats deliver quite a bit of humor and offer some relief along the way -- a good thing given how it starts out with that shocker opening straight out of a sexploitation roughie. One of the biggest selling points at the time was the soundtrack by popular singer-songwriter Georges Moustaki, which is quite spare here but effective where it counts; though a complete release never happened, it did get a 45 vinyl single at the time and has been a staple of Mocky soundtrack compilations ever since.

A French-Belgian co-production, Solo didn't get much play outside of those two countries apart from a run in West Germany at the time. Since then its Solohome video life has been confined to a handful of releases including a standalone French DVD and its Soloinclusion in a big Mocky set, followed by a 2022 Blu-ray release from ESC Editions taken from a new 4K restoration by Éclair Classics supervised by Mocky Delicious Products. None of those were English friendly, not surprisingly, and the transfer looked quite good apart from Éclair's typical tendency to lean too heavily to the teal side. Extras on that Blu-ray include three interviews: "Quand Solo Sonne Mai 68" (12m25s) with Mocky, and untitled ones with Mocky assistant and friend Eric Le Roy (14m52s) and Deleuze (16m46s). In 2026, Radiance Films gave the film its first official English-subtitled release as a Blu-ray edition in the U.S. and U.K., featuring the same scan and looking pretty much identical here. The LPCM 1.0 French mono track sounds excellent, and the optional English subtitles are nicely done. All three interviews have been ported over from the French release here, now subtitled for the first time and worth a look as they cover the initial inspiration for the story, working with the "anarchist" Moustaki, the cultural climate in the wake of the 1968 protests, and the restoration from the Eastmancolor negative (with a before and after demonstration that... raises some questions). An 18-image Image gallery of promotional material is also included, and the limited edition comes with an insert booklet featuring archival Mocky interviews.

Radiance Films
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ESC Editions
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Reviewed on June 23, 2026