Word: ardant
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...scene, the secretary (Fanny Ardant) has just found a mysterious scrap of paper in a wastebasket of a hotel room Mme. Vercel once stayed in. Wandering out into a strange neighborhood, she walks a few blocks, then happens to climb a high wooden fence, behind which an announcer for a horse race happens, just at that moment, to call out the cryptic words that--surprise--happened to be scribbled on the note. This happens again and again; the movie, in fact, stops just short of producing the name of the murderer as a cerealbox prize. Consequently, Vercel and company...
...GOOD THINGS about the movie are Fanny Ardant and Nestor Almendros. The latter produces some gorgeous black-and-white footage, using the backdrop of grungy Marseilles streets, sleazy nightclubs and palm-lined plazas in eternal rain to make for an atmosphere at once sinister and lyrical. The movie works better on a purely visual level than on any other; as a series of stills rather than a "moving picture." Whether one is willing to sit through two hours' worth of photos, even of southern France, is, of course, debatable...
...Ardant, Truffaut remarked that he had been "seduced by her looks." One can see why, although she is striking in a way more reminiscent of a Helmut Newton heroine than a Hitchcock one--if only she had been given the chance to do more than look good...
...While Ardant manages to be as engaging as her role allows, Trintignant is bland even beyond the dictates of his character. As Vercel, he comes across as unequivocally wimpy rather than charmingly understated, leaving the romantic subplot quite unconvincing--mildly grotesque, in fact, as the love scenes inevitably resemble unmotivated assaults...
...Fanny Ardant as his office helpmate is a wonder. Leggy and sensible, with a knowing yet modest air, she puts one in mind of a grownup Nancy Drew, though Nancy was never required to pose as a prostitute in order to crack a case. Ardant literally wears the trench coat in this picture, and dangerous activities come with the wardrobe. But a subtly knowing wit betokens pleasure in the ironies of role reversal...