THIS MAN MUST DIE Movie Review

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Killer!

When a young boy is killed by a hit-and-run driver, the boy's father (Michel Duchaussoy) swears revenge. But after successfully locating his child's killer, the man decides that to simply dispatch the monster isn't enough; it's at this point that the complex and brilliantly insightful real plot of Claude Chabrol's thriller kicks in, as the father, the killer, and the audience all get far more in the way of suspense and surprises than they bargained for. Featuring exceptional performances all around, particularly from Duchaussoy and from Jean Yanne as the despised object of the father's search, this is one of the finest of Claude Chabrol's tantalizingly ambiguous thrillers, in which guilt, justice, and retribution are always far less simple than they seem. Based on Nicholas Blake's novel The Beast Must Die, with cinematography by Jean Rabier. (Look for director Maurice Pialat in the role of a cop.)

NEXT STOP … Le Boucher, Violette, The Sweet Hereafter

1970 (PG) 112m/C FR Michael Duchaussoy, Caroline Cellier, Jean Yanne, Anouk Ferjac, Maurice Pialat; D: Claude Chabrol; W: Paul Gegauff; C: Jean Rabier. VHS FOX