This was an interesting film. I liked the conspiracy that surrounded the whole film. Did the victims commit suicide or were they murdered? It is never made clear. I also liked the depictions of the theater director. He struggles to get everyone together to rehears. As a filmmaker myself I empathize with him. The film builds up slowly to the end which leaves so much to be explained. Yet it is what is left to the imagination that is the best part of this film.
I liked the character of the girl who is trying to find out where Juan is and what happened to him. She is like a determined student trying to discover the meaning of something. The Kaufman character was intriguing to me. He was an exile from America due to McCarthyism. A former inhabitant of Greenwich Village which was teeming with radicalism during the 50's before gentrification came to call.. Yet this film has a spirit of it's own. I got the sense that the reactionaries were from the French resistance and were still resisting even though the war had ended. The Kaufman character and Tara the femme fatale really helped to play up that angle. I enjoyed watching them writhe with the pain of being exiled. Of constantly thinking that someone was on to them.
Chabrol leaves you guessing. There is some exposition about the syndicate. What or who are they fighting against? The crime syndicate? The dictator syndicate? It is never made clear. We are left stranded in the French countryside without any answers. It is sad that there is no conclusion. Pierre is killed. The two lead conspiracy theorists drive away. Nothing is settled.
I liked the aesthetics of this film. It felt like it was shot on the streets of Paris. I liked several of the shots of the small apartments. The intercutting of the model with the curious girl were all in good taste. A good film. Something that pushed forward the art form of cinema.
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