Matrixiole
Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
FirstWitch
A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Benas Mcloughlin
Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.
Jenni Devyn
Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.
morrison-dylan-fan
Seeing an excellent double bill of The Story of Adele H and Pocket Money,I took a look at François Truffaut other credits. Finding that fellow auteur Robert Bresson had made his last movie (the very good L'Argent) in 1983,I was sad to find that Truffaut had also made his last production in the same year,which led to me paying my respects to both film makers.View on the film:Making his last ever image being children playing around/kicking a camera lens, (which could be seen as a metaphor of the New Wavers kicking cinema in whichever direction they wanted) film maker François Truffaut is joined by long-time co-writers Suzanne Schiffman & Jean Aurel,and cinematographer Néstor Almendros for a slick final return to Film Noir. Displaying his love of Hitchcock, Truffaut and Aurel conclude their experimentation of tracking shots with elegant pans along Vercel's safe-house,and walls glazed in sharp black and white shadows building anticipation to brief glimpses of the killer.Going for a much lighter mood than his past Film Noir's, Truffaut cross-stitches Noir with a "Caper" lightness, reeling in visits to the cinema, a cheeky elf outfit for Becker and Georges Delerue's score giving a jaunty swagger to Becker and Vercel. Spreading photos of the crimes Vercel is accused of across the screen, the writers do extremely well in their adaptation of Charles "Dead Calm" Williams book never feeling heavy,with the dialogue having the sparkling quality of the Caper genre,which allows for the couples run to solve the case to have a cheeky playful mood. Joining her husband for the second,and final time,Fanny Ardant gives an excellent performance as Becker,with Ardant injecting a wry sense of humour in Becker's exchanges with Jean-Louis Trintignant's stressed-out Vercel, and showing a real relish in wearing Truffaut's last Femme Fatale jacket.
Kumar Y
People might think i am mad to give 8. But somehow i liked the way the picture has been presented. Complexity in the relationship i think it has been subtly but strongly depicted. another good point is this movie took the suspense tempo so well till the end of (or nearer to the end)the movie. Forget about certain illogical sequences, how this could happen or what, but the most appreciable thing was the suspense was never broken till the last few scenes, the tempo was kept without losing it, romance bit was there to show how people are so blind sometimes, they miss the real love and run after beauty. Hey i liked it. Its good movie to make your mood lighter.
SoftKitten80
For such a big Hitchcock fan Truffaut disappointed a bit with this movie. We see the starkness of Hitchcock. We see the mood music as in Psycho. But it is not Hitchcock. The lead actress is unremarkable in every way. Her face is quite gaunt. None of the actors stand out. The story tends to drag. Truffaut was perhaps better for Hitchcock in helping to keep his name before the public than any other director. There is a disparity between his admiration for the British director and his ability to make the same type of suspense films. The film had a very foreign feel to it, not pleasantly so. There was maybe not enough starkness. Definitely not enough richness. But worth seeing to better understand Truffaut's style.
barberoux
I was a bit disappointed by this movie. I expected a complex drama in the Hitchcock style but I got a mediocre story more like a Hitchcock TV presentation. It isn't a bad movie. It's more a vehicle for Fanny Ardant. She is a pleasure to watch and listen to. Jean-Louis Trintignant was also good. The writing wasn't all that great. The plot was simplistic and some scenes were clunky.