La Mort de Belle (1961) - film review

Stéphane Blanchon is a respectable teacher of French who lives in Switzerland with his wife.  The couple accommodate an American student, Belle, who is completing her studies.  When Belle is murdered, suspicion falls immediately on Blanchon.  As the police investigation probes into his past, the teacher becomes aware of his attraction towards Belle.  Perhaps he did killer her after all...

Transfer of guilt, that ingenious device beloved on crime thriller writers and Alfred Hitchcock, forms the basis for this masterfully composed psychological drama.  Although Edouard Molinaro is perhaps best known for his box office hits such as Hibernatus (1969) and  La Cage aux folles (1978), he also directed a number of respectable serious films, of which La Mort de Belle is among his best, a respectable adaptation of a Georges Simenon novel.


© James Travers 2003

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