Just Before Nightfall

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Sep 27, 2015 It's rather ghoulish in the end, but Claude Chabrol's film maintains suspense all the way through - despite the fact that we know that Michel Bouquet is the murderer from the first moments. Bouquet and Stephane Audran also starred as husband and wife in Chabrol's earlier, excellent The Unfaithful Wife, and this is something of a reprise or rejoinder. Audran was Chabrol's wife at the time and this period of his career saw a lot of exceptional thrillers in the Hitchcockian mode. Chabrol and Eric Rohmer had earlier written a famous book about Hitch, focusing on his Catholic interest in guilt - and guilt also takes center stage in Just Before Nightfall. You see, despite no suspicion falling on him, Bouquet just can't live with himself after the possibly accidental death of his friend's wife during S&M play. He just wants to blurt out that he's the killer - this leads to a great deal of suspense. Somehow, though, you just can't see that ending coming. But it is entirely consistent with Chabrol's wicked sense of humor. See more Sep 15, 2013 chabrol's films provide some darn interesting character studies. See more Dec 1, 2012 (*** 1/2): [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img] Well-acted and directed. See more Nov 20, 2012 had heard very good things from this film by monsieur chabrol. however, i was somewhat disappointed with it. a littel too slow for my liking. i did enjoy the beach scenes, particulary the pram being pushed as helene gazes out to sea. the ending was also very satisfying. oh, and ms. audran's eyes: spectacular. See more Nov 13, 2012 Strange how a film involving a cheating husband can invoke feelings of intense sympathy and sadness for said adulterer; Bouquet's muted performance is numbing and often harrowing. See more Jul 13, 2010 Not quite Top draw Chabrol as the story does tend to sag but still plenty on the subject of guilt to keep you interested. When a married man murders his mistress who happens to be the wife of his best friend ,his life begins to unravel as his guilt overwhelms him. The funny thing here is that despite his guilt no one else in the film seems to be that bothered by what the protagonist has done. Chabrol casts his beady eye over the French middle classes and comes up with a jet black critique on how these people covert things rather than Human life. As i said at the start the film does take its time to get its message across and perhaps a trim here and there would have helped the story . But at the end of the day the film still remains a facinating watch See more Read all reviews

Just Before Nightfall

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