Film Review
It may look like a pretty ordinary 1970s crime drama, but
À chacun son enfer makes a
pretty damning assault on society's morbid obsession with the suffering
of others. For once, it is not the judiciary that director
André Cayatte sinks his teeth into but society as a whole as he
sets out to remind us that behind every sensational news story there is
a gut-wrenching human tragedy. The ordeal of a mother coping with
her only daughter's abduction and murder is graphically portrayed by
Annie Girardot, the incomparable actress who had ignited two of
Cayatte's previous films, the incendiary
Mourir d'aimer (1971) and
Il n'y a pas de fumée sans feu
(1973).
À chacun son enfer is
among Cayatte's more successful attempts to bridge the gap between
moralising social commentary and popular entertainment. A slick, almost
unbearably tense thriller, it grabs your attention right from the
opening credits and doesn't let go until its shocking ending suddenly
hits you in the face with an almighty wallop. The characters are
well-drawn and convincingly portrayed, the story compelling, and the
only disappointment is that it is too easy to guess the identity of the
mysterious killer (there are only three likely suspects, all highly
improbable).
At the height of her powers, Giradot rips as much emotional veracity as
she can from the sparse plot, impressing with a performance that is
harrowing in its unseemly realism. It is all too easy to glimpse
her character's excruciating torment beneath her wild bouts of
hysteria. If you think Girardot is overdoing it you should ask
yourself: 'how would I react in a similar predicament?' As the
by-the-book police chief who does nothing to lessen Giradot's distress,
Hardy Krüger is the embodiment of French officialdom at its worst
- a heartless automaton of justice. Once again, Cayatte compels
us to sympathise with the little guy who falls foul of France's
inhumane legal system - the little guy whose crisis is transformed into
a nightmare by the feeding frenzy engineered by the sensation-mongers
in the media.
© James Travers 2014
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Next André Cayatte film:
La Raison d'état (1978)
Film Synopsis
A desperate woman makes a mad dash to the television studios, anxious
not to waste one second of the air time she has been granted.
Almost overcome with emotion, Madeleine Girard makes an appeal to the
kidnapper of her little daughter Laurence, promising that she will not
prosecute providing the girl is returned to her unharmed. On her
return home, Madeleine must endure a painful vigil in the company of
her husband, Bernard, and her son from a previous marriage. The
evening's ordeal is exacerbated by the selfish demands of Bernard's
father and the presence of a crowd of journalists camped on the
Girards' doorstep...
© James Travers
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