Leave it to the French to find an American pulp fiction novel like Charles Williams' "The Long Saturday Night" and turn it to cinematic terms. Such was the choice of Francois Truffaut, one of the champions of the New Wave movement, and a fervent admirer of director Alfred Hitchcock, to translate the story into a French one, paying homage to his idol as he only knew how. The result was a film a step below of his great movies.
The story is about Jean Vercel, a real estate agent, who is a suspect for killing both his wife, Marie-Christine, and her lover. Vatel goes to hide in his office and engages his secretary, Barbara, who is secretly in love with her boss to do the investigating as he wants to clear his name. It is clear that Barbara has a knack for getting to the bottom of the problem to help the man she loves.
Truffaut shot the film in black and white. He worked on the screenplay with two writers he had worked before, Suzanne Schiffman and Jean Aurel. The result is a movie that was more a product of the way he felt about Hitchcock, and in many respects, also an homage to Stanley Kubrick, whom he also admired, than a deeply felt film. To prove how he felt about Kubrick, he has Barbara at one point ask a cinema ticket seller whether "Paths of Glory" is a love story. Mr. Truffaut must have been sick while involved in the project because he died shortly after it was finished.
Fanny Ardant is the best excuse for watching the movie. She plays Barbara, the secretary that wants to exonerate her boss and acts as a detective. Jean Louis Trintignant is the accused man, Jean Vercel, in a role that didn't do much for him. This film was also a tribute to Ms. Ardant and the way the director felt about her.
The story is about Jean Vercel, a real estate agent, who is a suspect for killing both his wife, Marie-Christine, and her lover. Vatel goes to hide in his office and engages his secretary, Barbara, who is secretly in love with her boss to do the investigating as he wants to clear his name. It is clear that Barbara has a knack for getting to the bottom of the problem to help the man she loves.
Truffaut shot the film in black and white. He worked on the screenplay with two writers he had worked before, Suzanne Schiffman and Jean Aurel. The result is a movie that was more a product of the way he felt about Hitchcock, and in many respects, also an homage to Stanley Kubrick, whom he also admired, than a deeply felt film. To prove how he felt about Kubrick, he has Barbara at one point ask a cinema ticket seller whether "Paths of Glory" is a love story. Mr. Truffaut must have been sick while involved in the project because he died shortly after it was finished.
Fanny Ardant is the best excuse for watching the movie. She plays Barbara, the secretary that wants to exonerate her boss and acts as a detective. Jean Louis Trintignant is the accused man, Jean Vercel, in a role that didn't do much for him. This film was also a tribute to Ms. Ardant and the way the director felt about her.