En toute innocence (1988) - film review

Paul Duchène and his son Thomas run an architectural business from their country estate.  One day, Paul returns home to find Thomas’ wife, Catherine, making love with one of his business associates.  In a rage, Paul drives away in his car at full speed, and crashes into a lorry.  Although he survives the accident, he is wheelchair bound and appears not to be able to speak.  Catherine tries to make peace with him, but he refuses, and an air of quiet hostility pervades the household.  Convinced that his sister-in-law intends to kill him, Paul decides the time has come for him to take his revenge...

Alain Jessua produced and directed this disturbing psychological suspense-drama which bears a close similarity to some of Claude Chabrol’s darker thrillers.  Whilst neither the characters nor the plot are as well thought out as they need to be for the film to be totally effective, Jessua succeeds in conveying a mood of suppressed hatred and paranoid suspicion, evoking the style and feel of some of Hitchcock’s best work.  Michel Serrault and Nathalie Baye are well-cast as a duo engaged in a deadly mind game and give some great performances.  Serrault conveys manic paranoia as well as Baye portrays repressed anger and a sinister dual-natured personality.  Like Chabrol, Jessua takes pleasure in mocking the well-heeled middle classes.  The film revolves around a seemingly serene Bourgois family, where everyone appears calm, settled and content.  In reality, the ready smiles merely conceal pent-up resentment, frustration and disillusionment.  It is like a bomb primed to explode at any moment...

© James Travers 2006

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