Belgian-born Etienne Perier is not a name that stands out among French cinema directors, and in UN MEURTRE EST UN MEURTRE (MURDER IS MURDER) he passes up on a good opportunity to do better, especially in view of the cast made available to him.
Male lead Jean-Claude Brialy sadly has an accident with wealthy wife Stephane Audran who becomes wheel chair-ridden, and resentful of his ongoing affair with stunning clothes shop attendant Catherine Spaak. To cut a long story short, despite her paralysis, Audran is still able to drive her car but apparently forgets to use the hand brake and it slides down a slope and kills her as she goes down the middle of the road (none too careful, is she?)
The real baffler to me is why Director Perier decided to show that sequence as the intro to the film, and he repeats it some 30 minutes later.
That is when blackmailer Robert Hossein and police inspector Michel Serrault appear on screen, both delivering credible performances. For the record, both Brialy and Serrault would come out of the closet a few years later, and apparently had the hots for each other during this film. Spaak and Audran must have felt underused...
The script by Dominique Fabre makes very economic use of logic. Why Audran should have a sister who wants to wear a wig like her and go around in a wheelchair like her is baffling to put it mildly. That, in addition, she should pick up a revolver and fire six shots into the night after police inspectors approach her place is only made more incredible by the fact that Hossein had just shown her how to use the gun because she had never fired a shot in her life!
Toward the end, I did not know - and did not care - whether Audran was Marie or Anne any more. She was misused in the double role but at least Perier gave her the chance to show off her delicious legs as she ditches the wheelchair and shows Brialy and Spaak that she can walk.
The ending, with Brialy and Spaak laughing as they shove the empty wheelchair down a street, and it poses a threat to potential oncoming drivers, is one of the stupidest I have ever seen.
Effective cinematography by Marcel Grignon. 6/10.
Male lead Jean-Claude Brialy sadly has an accident with wealthy wife Stephane Audran who becomes wheel chair-ridden, and resentful of his ongoing affair with stunning clothes shop attendant Catherine Spaak. To cut a long story short, despite her paralysis, Audran is still able to drive her car but apparently forgets to use the hand brake and it slides down a slope and kills her as she goes down the middle of the road (none too careful, is she?)
The real baffler to me is why Director Perier decided to show that sequence as the intro to the film, and he repeats it some 30 minutes later.
That is when blackmailer Robert Hossein and police inspector Michel Serrault appear on screen, both delivering credible performances. For the record, both Brialy and Serrault would come out of the closet a few years later, and apparently had the hots for each other during this film. Spaak and Audran must have felt underused...
The script by Dominique Fabre makes very economic use of logic. Why Audran should have a sister who wants to wear a wig like her and go around in a wheelchair like her is baffling to put it mildly. That, in addition, she should pick up a revolver and fire six shots into the night after police inspectors approach her place is only made more incredible by the fact that Hossein had just shown her how to use the gun because she had never fired a shot in her life!
Toward the end, I did not know - and did not care - whether Audran was Marie or Anne any more. She was misused in the double role but at least Perier gave her the chance to show off her delicious legs as she ditches the wheelchair and shows Brialy and Spaak that she can walk.
The ending, with Brialy and Spaak laughing as they shove the empty wheelchair down a street, and it poses a threat to potential oncoming drivers, is one of the stupidest I have ever seen.
Effective cinematography by Marcel Grignon. 6/10.