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6/10
Slight French thriller with a sensuous Romy Schneider
gridoon202417 January 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Thematically, "Qui?" could be classified as "in the Claude Chabrol vein": a fatal accident, a man dies, a woman survives, she feels that someone is watching her, so she goes to stay with the dead man's brother, they start an affair, etc. But was it really an accident? Did the woman have any responsibility for what happened? Did the man really die? Is his brother genuinely seduced by her, or is he just obsessively trying to find out the truth? Compared to Chabrol, Leonard Keigel has a faster and more gimmicky style: he does a good job of creating a sense of paranoia and uncertainty. Ultimately, his story is too contrived (SPOILER: what are the chances of another corpse of the same age, height, hair color, clothing, etc., who has spent about the same time in the water, washing up at the right time and the right place? END SPOILER) for "Qui?" to be anything more than a minor thriller, however it's still worth seeing, especially for Romy Schneider fans: she is truly hot in this movie. The virtually unknown Simone Bach, as Ronet's ex-wife, is simply adorable. **1/2 out of 4.
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7/10
A very uneven French mystery-thriller with some good elements
Red-Barracuda16 March 2012
An abusive boyfriend is killed when his car crashes off a cliff into the sea. His girlfriend escapes death and comes under suspicion. She and the man's brother then begin a romance of sorts.

As others have pointed out this feels like a Claude Chabrol movie without the depth. It's a mystery-thriller but in truth its story is none-too-interesting. What keeps it from being truly mediocre are the occasional moments of the bizarre, some nice photography and a groovy Euro score by Claude Bolling. It's definitely a case of style over substance though, as there really isn't anything too much going on under these surface details. The story itself is as unrealistic as a giallo with some clear absurdities such as the dead body found in the sea that fools everyone into thinking its someone else's body. But it doesn't really have a giallo's sense of purpose or excitement. It's much more self-consciously arty and once the thriller part of the narrative finally kicks into gear the film ends very suddenly.

It's a strange movie though and one that would no doubt benefit from a repeat viewing. Very much a minor film but stylish and odd enough to be given some credit.
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7/10
colourful and ever engaging
christopher-underwood17 November 2013
Something really quite different here and although it is rather far fetched, it is nevertheless rather beguiling and I enjoyed it anyway. I also enjoyed it despite the soundtrack and naff songs, although I notice some really liked what I would dismiss as typical French pop songs of the period. Well photographed, this almost had a arty look to it at times and if this look is not sustained there is plenty that is good. The cliff top scenes at the start, some city shop window reflections and of course 'the accident' are all very well shot. Some of the interiors are a bit wordy (a French habit) and whilst there are some nice costumes, nothing as ravishing as if this had been an entirely Italian production. And, I can resist no more, Romy Schneider is lovely and carries out her difficult and rather complex role very well indeed. As I say all a bit silly but, bright, colourful and ever engaging.
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7/10
Proto-giallo
nick12123517 July 2018
A well made and adequate French thriller- many of the stylistic choices have me thinking of this one as a 'proto-giallo' of sorts, especially the camera work and amazing score. It can drag a bit but the chase scene in the latter half is well worth the wait. I haven't seen one quite this visually engaging since Lizard in a Woman's Skin. Gorgeous sets, sharp camera work, an engaging, psychedelic score, and of course, the beauty of the lead, all work in this one's favour. What works against it is the thin story-line and the clumsy dialogue- both things to be expected from early foreign thrillers such as this and therefore easy to overlook. The ending is rather good but almost feels tacked on. I wish they had done more to lead up to it during the film. Overall, this tended to get better throughout, starting off weak and slowly getting stronger. Great find for fans of foreign thrillers and giallo enthusiasts in particular.
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1/10
A (very very)poor man's Hitchcock.
dbdumonteil28 May 2002
Frankly I doubt Schneider herself said that this movie "set the tone for her future roles".If such was the case,what a poor taste she used to have.Actually,it was rather "la piscine" made the year before,that boosted her career that was on the wane after the Sissi saga (forever my love).

Romy Schneider teamed up again with Maurice Ronet (who was in "la piscine" too),but this time with laughable results.Leonard Keigel,the director ,wrote a screenplay in which the paucity of the ideas is so glaring that only a member of the audience who has never seen a Hitch ,Chabrol ou Clouzot movie could enjoy this poor would - be suspense thriller.Keigel hired Chabrol's dialogue writer,Paul Guégauff:probably horrified by the emptiness of the story,he made up for it with a lot of swear-words.

I wonder why talented actors like Ronet and Schneider agreed to make such a bomb;besides,the supporting actors do not "support" at all:Keigel's wife ,Simone Bach and Gabriele Tinti,sink into utterly ridiculous ham. The songs ,in English ("who are you" ) sung by a Dutch band ,Wallace Collection ,would nicely fit in a commercial for Martini.The critical reception was so disagreeable in France at the time ("a film made of brics,bracs and thingummies") that Keigel was not to made another movie before 1977.And it was his last one.
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1/10
Qui?
austrianmoviebuff9 July 2006
Warning: Spoilers
"Qui?" is a less-than-mediocre wannabe Hitchcockian thriller from France about murder and love and confusion. A messy screenplay, and Keigel's inept direction didn't help here either. If it wasn't for Romy Schneider, this piece of crap would long have been forgotten.

As Marina, she stumbles through a thoroughly uninteresting plot in which she first "kills" her cruel lover (Gabriele Tinti) before he re-appears and gets killed for the second time. In the meantime, his suspicious brother (Maurice Ronet) had fallen in love with her.

Sounds familiar? Well, I bet I've seen it better in, like, two dozen other movies. Albeit its duration of only 74 minutes, "Qui?" seems overlong and pathetic. Where Hitchcock had his humor, Keigel confronts us with bitterness and endless flashbacks. No story, no entertainment, no message, just a big, plain nothing, mixed up with bad performances, terrible music, inept camera-work and editing. Thank God Keigel didn't make much more movies!
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5/10
Why?
markwood27213 July 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Saw this 7/6/15 on YouTube. Should have been titled, "Why?" as in "Why Make This Film?" Beautiful print, very clear. Stupid "heavy"-sounding American-style pop song played over and over on Ronet's Garrard hi-fi turntable – didn't he own any other records? Story, what little of it I could follow (and even less was worth following), was boring by reel 2. For a long time in this shortish movie little seemed to happen. The Ronet character, perhaps because the writers ran out of ideas after the opening credits, kept asking poor Romy why she killed her boyfriend, the brother of the Ronet character. Then back to the turntable with additional repetition of the title of the movie in English – "Who are you...?" OK – who am I? Someone who just watched a bad movie! Romy and Ronet were much better splashing around in La Piscine (1969). The ending was a real "twist"! Doesn't everyone have a double? Without subtitles I got at least 50% of the dialogue, and I doubt that I really missed all that much.
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10/10
Very interesting
zoltanc6666 September 2004
One of Ms. Schneider's early works where she was trying to shake off the 'Sissi'-Image. Here we can see her (great as usual) as the somewhat troubled girlfriend of a man probably killed in a car crash as she tries to support his brother finding out what really happened. But strange things begin to happen and she feels like being hunted by a ghost.

The really good cast down to the supporting roles combined with the great and very suspenseful direction, a really good 60s score and the original and atmospheric script make a French thriller (actually, it's a French-Italian co-production) more interesting than lot of its counterparts from Hollywood. OK, the script tries sometimes a little bit too heavy to create a sense of overwhelming doom or anxiety surrounding Ms. Schneider's character (in her presence and in the things happening to her), on the other hand that low-key suspense is what makes the movie so effective. The main part seems to be just written for Ms. Schneider as she as usual does such a splendid job.

Any admirer of Ms. Schneider's talent shouldn't miss this movie. And any admirer of good (60s/70s) thrillers shouldn't miss this rare movie, either! I think it should really get a release on DVD. The score by none other than Claude Bolling would along with the songs be also great to have on CD.
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10/10
Superb Psychothriller
liderc29 February 2000
This Thriller is really wonderful because of its good photography, original story, suspense and the really groovy 60s music. For all people who think Romy Schneider only did strange boring melodramas like Sissy the movies she made in France are something they should see. Her acting as a mysterious and dazzling woman is excellent, you can not take your eyes of her when she is on the screen. As she said herself, this role set the tone for her future roles. Don't miss this masterpiece!
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Schneider-Ronet without Delon
searchanddestroy-118 November 2022
I suppose that previous year LA PISCINE more or less inspired this topic. Not the same story, nor atmosphere, but however a very interesting analyze of characters between whom the relationship is more than ambiguous, that's the least we can say. It is complex, hard to follow in the last part - not the first-, but I guess it was written in that purpose. Flawless cast, good directing, typical of this period. I would say it is an intellectual thriller. It is riveting though, never boring, not too long, so you can try to watch it. If you liked LA PISCINE with the same leads, but without Delon, you should like this one, maybe not as much as Jacques Deray's film. Excellent ending twists, as in ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS eighties series.... Not the fifties and sixties one.
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CINEMATIC ASSASSINATION
dimitrakopoulost26 May 2023
Leonard Keigel made a few movies, and everyone must be grateful about this. The movie QUI ? Is probably his best, so we can't say that he had many things to give. Nevertheless he was co-founder of Cahiers de Cinema, so he managed to sit on director's seat a few times and have some fun. He was only having fun, nothing else.

It is rather difficult to judge this movie. There is nothing to be judged. The plot is trivial, the actors just say their words, the director doesn't do anything. His target is to create a film in the style of Chabrol and Clouzot, but he only manages to create a very-very long commercial.

Don't watch this movie. It's terrible !
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poor
Kirpianuscus30 September 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Romy Schneider and Maurice Ronet. Enough for a decent movie. And , yes, in the first part, Qui ? Can be defined, with some indulgence, a modest but nice film. The recipe is old, the influences are obvious but the story works in a form or other.

The second part - the come back of Claude - is pure disaster. First because it is absurd at whole. Second, because it is just bad acted. Not less, because it sounds as a compromise of a story who can have a decent final an, in this case, the only solution is the worst.

The problem is the absence of any support . For an admirer of Schneider/ Ronet, their presence is only symbolic because the the rain of the final and the vigilent police are the last knife in the body of poor film.
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