SCENE OF THE CRIME Movie Review

A beautiful single mother (Catherine Deneuve), stifled and unfulfilled in her small French town, is sexually reawakened by an escaped convict (Wadeck Stanczak) who's hiding out near her home. Things become considerably more sticky when the convict resorts to physical violence to protect Deneuve's young son, who's already suffering the emotional effects of the nastiness of his parents’ divorce. André Téchiné has conceived this psychological thriller with the same multi-layered complexity that has graced his best movies (Wild Reeds, Ma Saison Préférée), but here the pieces never quite come together in a meaningful way. Scene of the Crime has some of the elements and tone of Hitchcock, but without the clarity of narrative or emotional resonance. The picture is lyrical and lush, but seems to evaporate even while it's being projected.

NEXT STOP … Le Boucher, Gun Crazy, Mississippi Mermaid

1987 90m/C FR Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux, Wadeck Stanczak, Victor Lanoux, Nicolas Giraudi, Jean Bousquet, Claire Nebout; D: Andre Techine; W: Olivier Assayas. VHS KIV, FCT