Juste avant la nuit (1971)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Claude Chabrol

Writers:

Edouard Atiyah (novel)
Claude Chabrol (writer)

Release Date:

31 March 1971 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Charles Masson, an advertising executive, is having an affair with Laura, the wife of his best friend...

Plot Keywords:

Police | Dead Woman | Strangulation | Foreign Language Adaptation | Feelings Of Guilt

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Stéphane Audran	...	Hélène Masson
Michel Bouquet	...	Charles Masson
François Périer	...	François Tellier
Henri Attal	...	Cavanna
Jean Carmet	...	Jeannot
Celia	...	Jacqueline
Anna Douking	...	Laura Tellier
Marcel Gassouk	...	Barman
Pascal Gillot	...	Auguste Masson
Daniel Lecourtois	...	Dorfmann
Sylvie Lenoir
Roger Lumont	...	Commissaire Delfeil
Dominique Marcas
Clelia Matania	...	Madame Masson
Antonio Passalia

Also Known As:

Just Before Nightfall (USA)
Sul far della notte (Italy)

Runtime:

USA:100 min | France:106 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:X (original rating) | UK:15 (DVD rating) (2005)

Filming Locations:

Le Touquet, Pas-de-Calais, France

Company:

Cinegai S.p.A.

Trivia:

Cameo: [François Truffaut]the man on the train looking directly at the camera in the middle of the film

One of Chabrol's very best

Juste Avant La Nuit/Just Before Nightfall is one of Claude Chabrol's very best despite a few uncertain moments in the opening scenes (Michel Bouquet and sunglasses just don't go together). Rather than the crime itself (which happens offscreen during the titles), the film is concerned with the effects on the (possibly) accidental murderer as his constantly frustrated need to unburden himself punishes him far more than the law ever could. If it's a little hard to believe the distant and somewhat constipated Bouquet is so universally admired and loved by his wife and best friend that they not only forgive but urge him not to confess to the murder he gradually drip feeds them details about, he's completely convincing as a man who wants to be punished and judged but can't even convince the spouse of his victim to do so.

The film has been beautifully thought through, and throughout Chabrol renders his struggle to confess in intriguing cinematic terms – at one point we hear him confess in voice over only for no sounds to emerge from his lips when they finally do move. He makes great use of the unique architecture of Bouquet's modernist house (which gets a well-deserved screen credit of its own), with its bedroom a virtual stage with its own curtains dividing it from the rest of the house, benefiting from some amazingly good camera-work boasting some incredibly well timed shots that reveal and reflect state of mind as well as action. Stephane Audran is exceptionally good as his wife, while Francois Perier (best remembered as the fatalistic cop in Le Samourai) offers warmly convincing support in what should be an increasingly impossible part. Very highly recommended.