A Pure Formality

A Pure Formality (Italian: Una pura formalità) is a 1994 Italian-French drama thriller film co-written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. It stars Gérard Depardieu as a reclusive writer and Roman Polanski as a police detective.

A Pure Formality
DVD cover
Directed by	Giuseppe Tornatore
Written by	Giuseppe Tornatore Pascal Quignard
Produced by	Bruno Altissimi Mario Cecchi Gori Vittorio Cecchi Gori Jean-Louis Livi Alexandre Mnouchkine Claudio Saraceni
Starring	Gérard Depardieu Roman Polanski
Cinematography	Blasco Giurato
Edited by	Giuseppe Tornatore
Music by	Ennio Morricone
Production companies	Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematografica DD Productions Film Par Film Orly Films Sidonie TF1 Films Production
Distributed by	AFMD (1994, France) Penta Distribuzione (1994, Italy)
Release dates	18 May 1994 (1994-05-18) (France) 12 January 1995 (1995-01-12) (Germany) 30 March 1995 (1995-03-30) (Spain)
Running time	111 minutes
Countries	Italy France
Language	French

Synopsis

Onoff (Depardieu) is a famous writer who is now a recluse. The Inspector (Polanski) is suspicious when Onoff is brought into the police station one night, disoriented and suffering from amnesia. As the head of an isolated, rural police station the Inspector tries to establish events through careful interrogation and deduction. Through his painstaking inquiries, he eventually clears up a mysterious killing and brings the writer to a new and unexpected realisation.

Cast

• Gérard Depardieu - Onoff
• Roman Polanski - Inspector
• Sergio Rubini - Andre, the Young Policeman
• Nicola Di Pinto - Captain
• Tano Cimarosa - Servant
• Paolo Lombardi - Marshall
• Maria Rosa Spagnolo - Paula
• Massimo Vanni

Reception

A Pure Formality was nominated for a Golden Palm at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.^[1] It also received a David di Donatello for Best Production Design (Andrea Crisanti).