Coup de Torchon (1981) on Netflix

Plot summary

In 1938, Lucien Cordier serves as the only policeman in a French colonial town in West Africa. He makes no arrests and looks the other way when trouble comes, so the townspeople treat him with contempt. His wife Huguette keeps her lover Nono in the house and presents him as her brother. Vanderbrouck, who runs the timber company, insults Cordier in public daily, and two pimps who ignore the law enjoy humiliating him. Cordier is drawn to Rose, a young bride whose husband beats her openly in the street. When the pimps go too far, he travels to his superior, Chavasson, who tells him to act decisively. On the return train he meets Anne, the town's new teacher.