I as in Icarus

I as in Icarus (original title I… comme Icare) is a 1979 French thriller directed by Henri Verneuil from a screenplay he wrote with Didier Decoin. Taking place in an unnamed Western nation, the narrative is closely modeled on the killing of John F. Kennedy: after the country's president is assassinated, an official inquiry blames a solitary gunman and shuts the case. The prosecutor assigned to the matter, portrayed by Yves Montand, cannot accept that conclusion. Going over the evidence by himself, restaging the shooting and pressing the witnesses, he uncovers indications of an elaborate plot in which the intelligence services are implicated. The nearer he comes to the facts, the more he meets obstruction, threats and a coordinated concealment orchestrated at the summit of the state. The title evokes the Icarus myth, suggesting the peril of soaring too near a truth that the powerful prefer to keep hidden. Michel Albertini and Roland Amstutz co-star alongside Montand, and Ennio Morricone supplied the music.