Unusual fare for Chabrol, filmed in Montreal, in English (though Stephane Audran seems to be dubbed. She was still married to the director at this point.) He and Sydney Banks adapted an Ed McBain (Evan Hunter) novel, starring Donald Sutherland.
A young girl announces a murder; then she changes her story - her brother did it. The mother (Audran) is a lush, wouldn't notice what's going on. Good performances from Aude Landry, and Lisa Langlois as her cousin. With Donald Pleasance as a paedophile, David Hemmings an inappropriate bank manager, Laurent Malet.
Halfway through it turns into a flashback story as Sutherland reads the diary of the dead girl and we find out all about her relationship with her cousin. It's quite a story, a chilling story, somehow, e.g. the murder itself, scene where Sutherland interviews Pleasance's 13 year old girlfriend and she denies everything, moment the camera tracks back through seemingly normal house while dead girl's voiceover conveys her fears.
 |
| We know Sutherland has a daughter this age, but isn't he getting a little too close to the witness? |
 |
| Kissing cousins |
Has a most unusual soundtrack in which there's often off-screen noise coming from somewhere.
Our version was in 4x3, possibly it was open matte as nothing seems to be missing. The DVD is also, though IMDB lists it as 1.85:1. Photographed by Jean Rabier, who shot most Chabrols, as well as Les Parapluies de Cherbourg.
No comments:
Post a Comment