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La Maison assassinée
1988 Drama / Thriller
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Credits
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Director: Georges Lautner
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Script: Jacky Cukier, Georges Lautner, based on a novel by Pierre Magnan
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Photo: Yves Rodallec
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Music: Philippe Sarde
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Cast: Patrick Bruel (Sébastien Monge),
Anne Brochet (Marie Dormeur),
Agnès Blanchot (Rose Pujol),
Ingrid Held (Charmaine Dupin),
Yann Collette (Patrice Dupin),
Jean-Pierre Sentier (Célestat Dormeur),
Roger Jendly (Zorme),
Christian Barbier (Brigue),
Martine Sarcey (Clorinde Dormeur),
Maria Meriko (la Tricanote),
Claude Evrard (Gaspard Dupin),
André Rouyer (Didon Pujol),
Gérard Caillaud (Le compagnon à 42 ans),
Jenny Clève (La Grenadière),
Yves Vincent (Le juge),
Jean-Claude Bourbault (Félicien Monge),
Vincent Vittoz (Le compagnon à 18 ans),
Laurent Gendron (Le simplet),
Anik Belaubre (La mère Dupin)
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Country: France
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Language: French
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Runtime: 105 min
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Aka: The Murdered House
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Summary
After World War I, a young ex-soldier, Sébastien Monge, returns to his home village.
Ignorant of his past, he learns that, 24 years before, his entire family was slain in
their home one stormy night. Only Sébastien, then a four-month old baby,
was spared. Three immigrant workers were charged with the killings and executed,
even though it later transpired that they were innocent. Sébastien
Monge vents his anger by demolishing his family house by hand. As he does so, he
discovers a small casket containing money and three credit notes, each signed by a prominent
member of the village community. Realising that these three must be the men who
killed his family, Sébastien decides to take his revenge by killing them in turn.
He begins with the wealthy Gaspard Dupin, who lives in a grand house with his nymphomaniac
daughter Charmaine and his son Patrice, a war veteran who was disfigured during active
service. Whilst Sébastien is being seduced by Charmaine, Dupin is killed
by someone else. Sébastien’s next victim, the miller Didon Pujol,
is also murdered before he has a chance to take his revenge. Sébastien realises
that someone is watching his every move and is going to extraordinary lengths to protect
him. But who, and why..?
Review
Best known for his popular thrillers and comedies of the 1960s and 1970s, Georges Lautner
also made a few unconventional films which are often the best examples of his work.
La Maison assassinée is one such film,
a rural whodunit of the kind which is comparatively rare in French cinema (the most famous
example is probably Christian-Jaque's 1941 film
L’Assassinat du Père Noël).
Whilst this is not Lautner’s best film, it has many strengths – good acting,
a good script, good location photography – and as a suspense thriller it works rather
well.
Now better known as a popular singer, Patrick Bruel also has a respectable career
as an actor and in this film he turns in a fairly convincing performance. Most of
the cast were stage actors with few, if any, film credits at the time, although some went
on to become well-known faces in cinema – notably Anne Brochet. The one actor
who stands out is Yann Collette, whose portrayal of a disfigured World War I veteran is
rather poignant. By contrast, Ingrid Held’s performance as a “Sex in
the City”-style nymphomaniac is too modern, too excessive for this kind of historical
drama, and her contribution is to the detriment of the film’s period atmosphere.
Like all good detective fiction, this is a film which demands a great deal of
effort from its audience if its very complicated plot is to make any sense. Murder
mysteries invariably contain a number of red herrings, but here there are enough herrings
to keep a fishmonger’s in business for a year. This isn’t a problem
if you can stay awake, although some supernatural elements in the latter part of the film
were probably a mistake and weaken the film’s credibility.
Overall, La
Maison assassinée is a pretty respectable variant on the mystery-thriller
film. It succeeds in capturing the mood of a rural community after the First World
War, it tells an intriguing story rather well, and it makes a pleasant change from contemporary
urban thrillers. In the twilight if his filmmaking career, Georges Lautner still
manages to pull a few pleasant surprises.
© James Travers 2005
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