Monsieur Hire (1989)
Directed by Patrice Leconte

Film Review

Arguably one of Patrice Leconte's most poignant film dramas, Monsieur Hire is a fascinating study in prejudice, loneliness and desire.  It has the feel of an intense psychological thriller, but ultimately the tenderness and compassion of a profoundly moving love story.  It is stunningly filmed and marvellously acted.

Michel Blanc plays the balding love-starved bachelor to perfection.  His is a uniquely engaging performance which fully captures the tragedy of his character's situation.  At first he appears as an object of fun, ridiculed by children, then we see him as something quite dangerous - a voyeur who peeps as a young woman undresses each night.  We instantly put two and two together and conclude that he is indeed the murderer which he is labelled as.  But, when we have seen something of his life and his aspirations, we see the real Monsieur Hire - a sad, hopeless individual with no future, and only a cage full of white mice for company.  As in real life, our earlier prejudices are all too quickly forgotten.

For such a short film, this is a film that seems to say so much, and with the minimum of dialogue.  The photography is profoundly melancholic, replete with touching little scenes which contribute nothing to the narrative but add volumes to the characterisation.

Film Synopsis

Monsieur Hire is a respectable middle-aged man who lives alone in the suburbs where he runs his own business as a tailor.  He has no family, no friends.  In fact, no one knows anything about him, which is why the police have reason to think he may be implicated in the murder of a young woman.  His one pleasure is to spy on the woman who lives in the apartment opposite his own, captivated by her beauty.  One evening, the woman, Alice, notices Monsieur Hire staring at her through his window and becomes intrigued.  How strange that a man she does not know should look at her with such adoration.  She then begins to wonder if he saw into her apartment on the night when Émile, the man she loves, first came to her, stained with the blood of his victim.

To put her mind at rest, Alice calls on Monsieur Hire and with a few gentle words she soon gains his confidence.  The tailor admits to having seen everything on the night of the murder but, knowing that his testimony would incriminate Alice, he intends saying nothing to the police.  Convinced that Alice has tender feelings for him, Monsieur Hire invites her to spend some time with him at his house in Switzerland.  Alice agrees but she fails to keep their appointment at the train station.  Returning to his apartment, Monsieur Hire arrives just in time to see the police inspector take the handbag of the murdered woman out of an item of furniture.  Of course it was placed there by Alice...