Such is the cauldron of deathly woe in this scrumptious, meticulous murder mystery. Starring French pop singer Patrick Bruel, ''La Maison Assassinee'' (The Murdered House) should do tres bon business on the art-house circuit.
Crafted and constructed with jarring delicacy, ''La Maison Assassinee'' is at once a beguiling murder mystery as well as an entrancing psychological portrait of a small, French provincial town, circa 1920. It's a keen study in group behavior and peer dynamics as magnified by a brutal crime and a catastrophic war.
In this engrossing drama, young Seraphin Monge (Bruel) finds his return home to his village of birth an unsettling experience. Orphaned as a youngster and then conscripted into the service, the young man has had, essentially, no personal life and knows nothing of his parents.
With his return to the village, he senses the edginess and hostility of the townfolk. Monge soon learns the terrible circumstances of their unease, in particular their avoidance of his family's once-proud mansion where the bloody, throat-slitting massacre of his parents occurred. His return has opened the bucolic village's deepest scar -- the truth of what happened on that murderous night.
While the local girls flock to him -- he is the only eligible young man to survive the war -- the villagers ostracize him. Finally, Monge, too, feels he must expunge his past, by tearing down his parents' home, stone by stone. In his cleansing fury, he comes upon a piece of evidence that clues him to the real murderers.
But revenge, in his case, will not be entirely sweet. He has fallen in love with the daughter of one of the perpetrators, and, as befits a small town, there are other difficult personal entanglements.
Based on a novel by Pierre Magnan, ''La Maison Assassinee'' is a magnificently crafted mystery. Adapters Georges Lautner and Jacky Caukier have wound the narrative in, seemingly, a series of climactic knots. Just as Monge (and, by extension, the viewer) thinks he has the truth all neatly tied, the narrative slips free and loops around an even more credible and disarming probability.
Credit director Georges Lautner for the firm and delicious pacing and the terrific technical team for the subtle and powerful textures. Cinematographer Yves Rodallec's muted tones and editor Michelle David's bold cuts portend the deep and dark complexities coursing through this film.
LA MAISON ASSASSINEE
Morris Projects Inc.
Producer Alain Poire
Director Georges Lautner
Based on a novel by Pierre Magnan
Screen adaptation Georges Lautner, Jacky Caukier
Dialogue Didier von Cauwelaert
Director of photography Yves Rodallec
Art director Chantal Giullani
Costume designerManka Guezel
Editor Michelle David
Sound mixer Jean-Paul Loublier
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Seraphin Monge Patrick Bruel
Marie Dormeur Anne Brochet
Rose Pujol Agnes Blanchot
Charmaine Dupin Ingrid Held
Patrice DupinYann Collette
Celestat Dormeur Jean-Pierre Sentier
Zorme Roger Jendly
Running time -- 113 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
Crafted and constructed with jarring delicacy, ''La Maison Assassinee'' is at once a beguiling murder mystery as well as an entrancing psychological portrait of a small, French provincial town, circa 1920. It's a keen study in group behavior and peer dynamics as magnified by a brutal crime and a catastrophic war.
In this engrossing drama, young Seraphin Monge (Bruel) finds his return home to his village of birth an unsettling experience. Orphaned as a youngster and then conscripted into the service, the young man has had, essentially, no personal life and knows nothing of his parents.
With his return to the village, he senses the edginess and hostility of the townfolk. Monge soon learns the terrible circumstances of their unease, in particular their avoidance of his family's once-proud mansion where the bloody, throat-slitting massacre of his parents occurred. His return has opened the bucolic village's deepest scar -- the truth of what happened on that murderous night.
While the local girls flock to him -- he is the only eligible young man to survive the war -- the villagers ostracize him. Finally, Monge, too, feels he must expunge his past, by tearing down his parents' home, stone by stone. In his cleansing fury, he comes upon a piece of evidence that clues him to the real murderers.
But revenge, in his case, will not be entirely sweet. He has fallen in love with the daughter of one of the perpetrators, and, as befits a small town, there are other difficult personal entanglements.
Based on a novel by Pierre Magnan, ''La Maison Assassinee'' is a magnificently crafted mystery. Adapters Georges Lautner and Jacky Caukier have wound the narrative in, seemingly, a series of climactic knots. Just as Monge (and, by extension, the viewer) thinks he has the truth all neatly tied, the narrative slips free and loops around an even more credible and disarming probability.
Credit director Georges Lautner for the firm and delicious pacing and the terrific technical team for the subtle and powerful textures. Cinematographer Yves Rodallec's muted tones and editor Michelle David's bold cuts portend the deep and dark complexities coursing through this film.
LA MAISON ASSASSINEE
Morris Projects Inc.
Producer Alain Poire
Director Georges Lautner
Based on a novel by Pierre Magnan
Screen adaptation Georges Lautner, Jacky Caukier
Dialogue Didier von Cauwelaert
Director of photography Yves Rodallec
Art director Chantal Giullani
Costume designerManka Guezel
Editor Michelle David
Sound mixer Jean-Paul Loublier
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Seraphin Monge Patrick Bruel
Marie Dormeur Anne Brochet
Rose Pujol Agnes Blanchot
Charmaine Dupin Ingrid Held
Patrice DupinYann Collette
Celestat Dormeur Jean-Pierre Sentier
Zorme Roger Jendly
Running time -- 113 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
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