La Maison assassinée (1988)
Directed by Georges Lautner

Film Review

Best known for his popular thrillers and comedies of the 1960s and 1970s, Georges Lautner also made a few unconventional films which are often the best examples of his work.   La Maison assassinée is one such film, a rural whodunit of the kind which is comparatively rare in French cinema (the most famous example is probably Christian-Jaque's 1941 film L'Assassinat du Père Noël).  Whilst this is not Lautner's best film, it has many strengths - good acting, a good script, good location photography - and as a suspense thriller it works rather well.

Now better known as a popular singer, Patrick Bruel also has a respectable career as an actor and in this film he turns in a fairly convincing performance.  Most of the cast were stage actors with few, if any, film credits at the time, although some went on to become well-known faces in cinema - notably Anne Brochet.  The one actor who stands out is Yann Collette, whose portrayal of a disfigured World War I veteran is rather poignant.  By contrast, Ingrid Held's performance as a “Sex in the City”-style nymphomaniac is too modern, too excessive for this kind of historical drama, and her contribution is to the detriment of the film's period atmosphere.

Like all good detective fiction, this is a film which demands a great deal of effort from its audience if its very complicated plot is to make any sense.  Murder mysteries invariably contain a number of red herrings, but here there are enough herrings to keep a fishmonger's in business for a year.  This isn't a problem if you can stay awake, although some supernatural elements in the latter part of the film were probably a mistake and weaken the film's credibility.

Overall, La Maison assassinée is a pretty respectable variant on the mystery-thriller film.  It succeeds in capturing the mood of a rural community after the First World War, it tells an intriguing story rather well, and it makes a pleasant change from contemporary urban thrillers.  In the twilight if his filmmaking career, Georges Lautner still manages to pull a few pleasant surprises.

Film Synopsis

In the aftermath of the First World War, Séraphin Monge returns to his home village in the south of France and sets about finding himself a job.  Working as a road-mender, he gets to meet another man, Brigue, who is able to shed some light on his mysterious past.  Séraphin is surprised to learn that, almost a quarter of a century ago, his entire family was slaughtered in the course of one stormy night.  He was the only survivor, then just a baby of four months.  The murders were blamed on a party of migrant workers from Eastern Europe - they were soon arrested and executed, although not everyone was convinced of their guilt at the time.

These revelations make a deep impression on Séraphin, who has agonised over what became of his family for years.  In  a mad frenzy, he begins to demolish the house within which the carnage took place.  In doing so, he finds a small box containing credit notes signed by three notables in the village - Didon Pujol, Gaspard Dupin and Célestat Dormeur.  It suddenly occurs to Séraphin that these three men are the ones who murdered his family, so without further reflection he commits himself to killing each one of them.  His first victim will be Dupin, a wealthy man who lives in a large house with his daughter Charmaine and son Patrice.

The fact that Séraphin feels some kinship with Patrice, another war veteran who was badly mutilated on the battlefield, does not dissuade him from his dark purpose, nor does his strong physical attraction for Charmaine.  But whilst Séraphin is being seduced by the over-sexed daughter, the father succumbs to what seems to be a terrible accident.  Victim number two, the miller Didon Pujol, also dies in mysterious circumstances before the would-be executioner can reach him.  It seems that someone knows what is on Séraphin's mind and is going out of his way to protect him...