Film Review
The phenomenal success of H.G. Clouzot's
Les Diaboliques (1955) resulted
in a spate of similar fiendishly contorted suspense thrillers on both sides
of the Atlantic, most instantly forgettable although a few still stand up
reasonably well. Étienne Périer's
Meurtre en 45 tours
makes a fair stab at recreating the goosebump-inducing ambiance of Clouzot's
warped little thriller, and whilst there are some plot similarities these
prove to be misleading and give the film its essential element of surprise.
What the two films have in common is that they both derived from potboiler
novels by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, a French writing team whose
main claim to fame is that they provided the source novel for Alfred Hitchcock's
Vertigo (1958). They also
scripted George Franju's
Les
Yeux sans visage (1960), possibly the most inspired and creepiest
of French horror films.
Périer's screen adaptation of Boileau and Narcejac's novel
Â
coeur perdu is more workmanlike than inspired, a lowkey thriller that
holds the attention by the sheer ingenuity of the plot but fails to make
much of a lasting impression. Périer's attempts to imitate Clouzot
come across as heavyhanded in a few scenes, and the ludicrously over-the-top
score does little for the film's credibility, clumsily underscoring every
plot twist with the subtlety of a heavy metal band performing in an echo
chamber. After a plodding first half which relies too heavily on the
charm and charisma of its lead actress - Danielle Darrieux at her most radiant
in her middle years - the film finally gets under way with its first surprising
twist. From then on, things improve greatly as the heroine succumbs
to a Machiavellian plot to drive her out of her mind, in a clever variation
on the theme of
Les Diaboliques.
Danielle Darrieux stands pretty well alone in this film, with little in the
way of support from her male co-stars. Once Jean Servais is unceremoniously
ejected from the proceedings it is left to the congenitally bland Michel
Auclair to partner Darrieux on her dark journey into night, and he might
just as well have taken the day off for all the impact he makes. Jacqueline
Danno - a successful singer of the period - makes a far greater impression,
although she only appears in a few scenes (as a haunting vision of the sly,
predatory female) and has practically no dialogue. Apparently not put
off by the B-movie subject matter and a fairly mediocre script, Darrieux
turns in one of her more nuanced and intriguing performances - her ambiguous
portrayal (we can never be sure if her character is as innocent as she pretends)
is what makes the film so disturbing and compelling.
It is a shame that the inexperienced Périer (this was only his second
feature) occasionally undermines his material and his lead actress with his
stylistic excesses, a case in point being a lunatic dream sequence near the
end of the film which too obviously references the one in
Vertigo.
Despite its misjudged directorial indulgences and a totally unnecessary coda,
Meurtre en 45 makes for an entertaining thriller.
So long as you're not expecting another Clouzot masterpiece it rewards the
effort you put into watching it, although you can't help wishing that there
was a DVD option to switch off the infarctus-causing cacophony that masquerades
as a film score.
© James Travers 2016
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
With songs composed by her husband Maurice, Ève Faugères has
become a hugely successful singer. Ève's career may be on the
up but her marriage is heading for the rocks. Having grown contemptuous
of her brutish and insensitive husband she has begun an affair with her pianist,
Jean Le Prat. If only Maurice would conveniently die Ève would
be free to start a new life with the man she truly loves. Fate is only
too kind to grant her her wish. After Maurice is killed in a car accident,
Éve is called upon to identify her husband's body, but she can barely
bring herself to look at the mangled remains. Maurice's death is too
convenient for Éve's liking and immediately she begins to suspect
foul play.
It isn't long before Éve has convinced herself that Jean arranged
the accident so that she could be free to marry him. In fact Jean is
innocent of the crime and is just as certain that Éve is the murderer.
No sooner have the lovers persuaded each other that Maurice Faugères's
death was merely an accident than events take an unexpected and sinister
turn. On a short-playing record Éve listens in disbelief to
a message from her husband informing her that he is still very much alive.
It seems that Maurice anticipated his murder and now intends driving his
wife insane. Wherever Éve goes, she feels Maurice's presence
and slowly she begins to lose her grip on reality, just as her persecutor
intended...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.