Francois Truffaut greatly respected and admired the work of Alfred Hitchcock and "The Bride Wore Black" is his homage to the great director. It's a movie that's fascinating to watch because of the skillful way in which the story's important background information is gradually revealed but also because it's highly entertaining in the conventional sense. Its off-beat nature, its numerous Hitchcockian elements and the mystery surrounding the stony-faced widow who embarks on a murder spree are just some of the strong features of this tense revenge thriller which interestingly, also incorporates some of the more gentle and light qualities that are typical of Truffaut's work.
Julie Kohler (Jeanne Moreau) is the mysterious woman who, after having failed in an attempt to commit suicide, sets off on a journey to kill the five men whose names she has written down on a list. Her approach to her mission is very meticulous and unemotional and the ways in which she kills her victims vary on each occasion. It transpires that Julie's husband had been shot dead on the church steps on the day of their wedding and she held the five men accountable because, after a night of drinking and playing cards together, one of them had fired a high-powered rifle out of a window opposite the church and this thoughtless act had robbed her of her new husband who'd been her childhood sweetheart and the love of her life.
Julie's modus operandi is to lure each victim into a situation where she can kill him. At a party being held in his high-rise apartment by a womaniser called Bliss (Claude Rich), she pushes him off the balcony and he falls to his death. At the apartment of the lonely bachelor Robert Coral (Michel Bouquet), she poisons his drink and at the house of pompous politician Clement Morane (Michel Lonsdale), she suffocates him to death after locking him in a storage cupboard under a flight of stairs. Her plan for her fourth victim is thwarted because Delvaux (Daniel Boulanger), who's a used car dealer, is arrested by the police for handling stolen property but with the aid of a bow and arrow, she successfully completes the murder of the fifth man on her list, an artist called Fergus (Charles Denner).
The actions that Julie takes following the murder of Fergus initially seem to be illogical but her reasons soon become clear because the way in which she manipulates events to ensure that she's able to conclude her mission is ingenious and provides the movie with a tremendous conclusion which is also brilliant in the way that it's filmed.
The presence of disguises, a poisoned drink and high-angle camera shots together with a Bernard Herrman score, the theme of obsession and a sequence that takes place in a concert hall, are just some of the many Hitchcock trademarks that feature in this story. Julie's character is so traumatised by her experience that she's been completely numbed and Jeanne Moreau captures the cold elegance of her character perfectly in a deadpan performance that's at the centre of everything that happens in this drama. The supporting cast is also top class with Michel Bouquet and Michel Lonsdale both being particularly good in their roles.
One of the strengths of "The Bride Wore Black" is that it's thoroughly enjoyable whether it's viewed as a Hitchcock tribute or taken simply at face value. In view of the circumstances in which it was made and the obvious affection that Truffaut had for Hitchcock's work, it's sadly ironic that out of all of his movies, this is the one that Truffaut liked least.
Julie Kohler (Jeanne Moreau) is the mysterious woman who, after having failed in an attempt to commit suicide, sets off on a journey to kill the five men whose names she has written down on a list. Her approach to her mission is very meticulous and unemotional and the ways in which she kills her victims vary on each occasion. It transpires that Julie's husband had been shot dead on the church steps on the day of their wedding and she held the five men accountable because, after a night of drinking and playing cards together, one of them had fired a high-powered rifle out of a window opposite the church and this thoughtless act had robbed her of her new husband who'd been her childhood sweetheart and the love of her life.
Julie's modus operandi is to lure each victim into a situation where she can kill him. At a party being held in his high-rise apartment by a womaniser called Bliss (Claude Rich), she pushes him off the balcony and he falls to his death. At the apartment of the lonely bachelor Robert Coral (Michel Bouquet), she poisons his drink and at the house of pompous politician Clement Morane (Michel Lonsdale), she suffocates him to death after locking him in a storage cupboard under a flight of stairs. Her plan for her fourth victim is thwarted because Delvaux (Daniel Boulanger), who's a used car dealer, is arrested by the police for handling stolen property but with the aid of a bow and arrow, she successfully completes the murder of the fifth man on her list, an artist called Fergus (Charles Denner).
The actions that Julie takes following the murder of Fergus initially seem to be illogical but her reasons soon become clear because the way in which she manipulates events to ensure that she's able to conclude her mission is ingenious and provides the movie with a tremendous conclusion which is also brilliant in the way that it's filmed.
The presence of disguises, a poisoned drink and high-angle camera shots together with a Bernard Herrman score, the theme of obsession and a sequence that takes place in a concert hall, are just some of the many Hitchcock trademarks that feature in this story. Julie's character is so traumatised by her experience that she's been completely numbed and Jeanne Moreau captures the cold elegance of her character perfectly in a deadpan performance that's at the centre of everything that happens in this drama. The supporting cast is also top class with Michel Bouquet and Michel Lonsdale both being particularly good in their roles.
One of the strengths of "The Bride Wore Black" is that it's thoroughly enjoyable whether it's viewed as a Hitchcock tribute or taken simply at face value. In view of the circumstances in which it was made and the obvious affection that Truffaut had for Hitchcock's work, it's sadly ironic that out of all of his movies, this is the one that Truffaut liked least.