There are some films which although not entirely dreadful are ones that you are in no hurry to see again. This is one of them. There is some good cinematography here and Louisette Hautecoeur's editing, especially that of the party scene, is commendable. Adapted from his novel by Frederic Dard this film simply fails to grip. The Yoolands, played by Robert Hossein and Michele Morgan, have been torn apart by the death of their son but one wonders how such a mis-matched couple got together in the first place. The weakest link however is the score by Hossein's father Andre. It is both irritating and intrusive. The best film directors possess a sense of music and the best film composers a sense of drama. Both father and son are sadly deficient here in these respects. Michele Morgan is always good value but even she cannot keep this turgid drama afloat.
6 Reviews
Thelma and Louise
happytrigger-64-39051710 January 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Louise Martin lives with her parents in a small flat and from her window, she looks at an American-Russian couple (Thelma and Jess Rooland) living in a modern house where they are having parties dancing and boozing, discovering modern way of life and falling in love with Jess. Louise is enrolled as a maid and finds out Thelma boozes to forget Jess's tragic car accident changing her life.
The 60's mood is very authentic, with nice swing music (by Robert Hossein's father), dances, American and English sport cars, erotic scenes, ... Les Scélérats has some failures like Robert Hossein's voice over describing his own character without being this character, this voice should be erased. And it is quite funny to see this American-Russian couple when they're getting mad at each other : Michèle Morgan speaks with a good American accent as Robert Hossein answers in Russian.
But the tragic boozing of Michèle Morgan is the most interesting for developing a strong noir theme. The young innocent Louise learns a lot from that nasty destiny until the last shot in the very dark night. There is also a great cinematography by Jacques Robin. Hossein, Morgan, Pradier and others are very well acting. Michèle Morgan is especially touching when we see her drunken with her face trying to forget and trying to have fun at the same time. So long Michèle.
The 60's mood is very authentic, with nice swing music (by Robert Hossein's father), dances, American and English sport cars, erotic scenes, ... Les Scélérats has some failures like Robert Hossein's voice over describing his own character without being this character, this voice should be erased. And it is quite funny to see this American-Russian couple when they're getting mad at each other : Michèle Morgan speaks with a good American accent as Robert Hossein answers in Russian.
But the tragic boozing of Michèle Morgan is the most interesting for developing a strong noir theme. The young innocent Louise learns a lot from that nasty destiny until the last shot in the very dark night. There is also a great cinematography by Jacques Robin. Hossein, Morgan, Pradier and others are very well acting. Michèle Morgan is especially touching when we see her drunken with her face trying to forget and trying to have fun at the same time. So long Michèle.
A boring story.
zutterjp4826 April 2020
A rich American couple living in a nice house with large windows and in front of their house there is an old building where a father, a mother and a daughter are observing them: the daughter will enter in the life of the American couple: this could be a good story !! But something doesn't convinced me in this film: maybe there was too much attention on the character of Thelma Rooland, who drinks and drinks again , on this couple in crisis.So the film becomes slow and quite boring.
Nevertheless the performances of Perrette Pradier ,Robert Hossein and Michèle Morgan are good.
film noir cum new wave bore.
dbdumonteil15 July 2002
The Robert Hossein/Frédéric Dard collaboration has often been fruitful:"toi le venin" and the overlooked "monte-charge" were interesting if minor successful films noirs.Such is not the case here.
"Les scélérats" ("the villains")casts Hossein and Morgan as American people living in France after their child's death in a car accident.They are not credible because they speak French without the slightest yankee accent.Robert Hossein barely utters one sentence in English,anyway!This wealthy couple dwells in a luxury house;across the street ,lives a French poor couple whose girl is hired as a maid by the posh people.Then the screenplay never gets off the ground.Morgan drinks ,drinks and drinks again to forget,Hossein suffers and the maid watches and of course falls in love with..well you guess it!
It's 1960,folks,and the new wave happened!So there's the obligatory endless party where the guests drink,dance and kiss,filmed in a "modern" way (see "la notte" and "l'avventura" (Antonioni) "les cousins" (Chabrol) and even "les tricheurs "(Carné)).
This is a very disappointing bore.Besides, a voice-over comments on everything the characters do,as if the audience is not able to fathom the profoundness of their psychology.
"Les scélérats" ("the villains")casts Hossein and Morgan as American people living in France after their child's death in a car accident.They are not credible because they speak French without the slightest yankee accent.Robert Hossein barely utters one sentence in English,anyway!This wealthy couple dwells in a luxury house;across the street ,lives a French poor couple whose girl is hired as a maid by the posh people.Then the screenplay never gets off the ground.Morgan drinks ,drinks and drinks again to forget,Hossein suffers and the maid watches and of course falls in love with..well you guess it!
It's 1960,folks,and the new wave happened!So there's the obligatory endless party where the guests drink,dance and kiss,filmed in a "modern" way (see "la notte" and "l'avventura" (Antonioni) "les cousins" (Chabrol) and even "les tricheurs "(Carné)).
This is a very disappointing bore.Besides, a voice-over comments on everything the characters do,as if the audience is not able to fathom the profoundness of their psychology.
" "Killer" means murderer."
morrison-dylan-fan22 May 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Originally thinking from the poster/DVD cover that this was a Horror movie,I was surprised to recently learn that it was actually Robert Hossein's take on the French New Wave (FNW),which led to me getting ready to find out how wretched the wretches could be.
The plot:
Since seeing them move from the US to France, Louise Martin has been fascinated by the activities of new neighbours Thelma and Jess Rooland,with Louise spending hours sitting by her window listening to the US records that they play.Wanting to know more about the Rooland's,Louise takes a deep breath and decides to ask the Rooland's if they would hire her as a maid.Getting hired as a maid,Louise's initial happiness gets wiped away,as she starts to lean of the events which led to the Rooland's leaving the US.
View on the film:
Backed by an echoing score from his dad André,co-writer/(along with Frédéric Dard) lead actor/director Robert Hossein & cinematographer Jacques Robin give the Rooland household a sparkling Art-Deco design,with the mix of light and shade subtly expressing the light exterior and the hard,closed-off interior of the Rooland's.Dabbing a moody narration on,Hossein & Robin get into a FNW swing which keeps the magnetic style focused on the pull that the Rooland's have on Louise,as surprisingly suggestive sex scenes and clouded in Film Noir train tracks show the rout that has set in for the Rooland's,that sets off ultra-stylised mirror shots and fade in/fade outs,which reflect the sorrow that Louise uncovers.
Keeping Louise watching her dream couple by the window,the screenplay by Hossein and Dard (who also wrote the book it's based on) take a refreshingly unique corner with Louise's parents Arthur and Adeline Martin,who instead of being angry are shown as supportive of Louise's goals,and also desperate to pull her from the Film Noir pit she is being sliding into. Behaving as a couple with major "issues" between them,the writers display a superb skill in keeping the issues under wraps so that the viewer can feel the awkward atmosphere which Louise is in the midst of,that also gives the opening of the revelations a thunderous force,as Lousie learns about the tragic past of her dreamy couple.
Wisely deciding to not do a fake US accent, Robert Hossein gives a fantastic performance as Jess,whose casual,laid-back manner Hossein melts away to put Jess looking down to the pit of despair.Breaking egg shells the moment she enters, glamorous Michèle Morgan gives a terrific performance as Thelma,by making each downed drink and dance sway tear a shred of Thelma's glamour to unveil the raw sorrow laying underneath. Looking beautiful cleaning up the lush Art Deco Film Noir design, Perrette Pradier gives a fantastic performance as Louise,thanks to Pradier using all of her delicate features to clip Louise with a brittle fragility, as Louise finds herself drawn to the wretched.
The plot:
Since seeing them move from the US to France, Louise Martin has been fascinated by the activities of new neighbours Thelma and Jess Rooland,with Louise spending hours sitting by her window listening to the US records that they play.Wanting to know more about the Rooland's,Louise takes a deep breath and decides to ask the Rooland's if they would hire her as a maid.Getting hired as a maid,Louise's initial happiness gets wiped away,as she starts to lean of the events which led to the Rooland's leaving the US.
View on the film:
Backed by an echoing score from his dad André,co-writer/(along with Frédéric Dard) lead actor/director Robert Hossein & cinematographer Jacques Robin give the Rooland household a sparkling Art-Deco design,with the mix of light and shade subtly expressing the light exterior and the hard,closed-off interior of the Rooland's.Dabbing a moody narration on,Hossein & Robin get into a FNW swing which keeps the magnetic style focused on the pull that the Rooland's have on Louise,as surprisingly suggestive sex scenes and clouded in Film Noir train tracks show the rout that has set in for the Rooland's,that sets off ultra-stylised mirror shots and fade in/fade outs,which reflect the sorrow that Louise uncovers.
Keeping Louise watching her dream couple by the window,the screenplay by Hossein and Dard (who also wrote the book it's based on) take a refreshingly unique corner with Louise's parents Arthur and Adeline Martin,who instead of being angry are shown as supportive of Louise's goals,and also desperate to pull her from the Film Noir pit she is being sliding into. Behaving as a couple with major "issues" between them,the writers display a superb skill in keeping the issues under wraps so that the viewer can feel the awkward atmosphere which Louise is in the midst of,that also gives the opening of the revelations a thunderous force,as Lousie learns about the tragic past of her dreamy couple.
Wisely deciding to not do a fake US accent, Robert Hossein gives a fantastic performance as Jess,whose casual,laid-back manner Hossein melts away to put Jess looking down to the pit of despair.Breaking egg shells the moment she enters, glamorous Michèle Morgan gives a terrific performance as Thelma,by making each downed drink and dance sway tear a shred of Thelma's glamour to unveil the raw sorrow laying underneath. Looking beautiful cleaning up the lush Art Deco Film Noir design, Perrette Pradier gives a fantastic performance as Louise,thanks to Pradier using all of her delicate features to clip Louise with a brittle fragility, as Louise finds herself drawn to the wretched.
torment to watch
jromanbaker23 April 2020
This film was called ' Torment ' in the UK and given an X certificate. This site might like to know that fact, easily found on the BBFC site when you type in the French title. Trivia like this can be helpful.
Aptly called in the UK as it is torment to watch. It is directed by Robert Hossein and like the rest of his participation in films that I have seen during my life it is sensationalist and deeply depressing. ' Torment ' is especially bad. The set is a travesty of poverty versus luxury, and Michele Morgan trying to be American and using the English language is terrible. Her acting is threadbare and that goes for the wooden acting of Hossein himself. The only film he was good in was made by Roger Vadim and he had Brigitte Bardot to bring him to life. Others may have other opinions. The plot is trite and tawdry and centres around a bad marriage and a poor girl who lives opposite their rich house who becomes their maid. The only scene that was both risible and unintentionally funny was seeing the maid trample all over Morgan's naked back with her feet. Decadence follows as it always does in such films. I saw no reason for this except to wake up the audience who could well have fallen asleep during this pitiful exercise in cinema.
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