Que la bête meure

In taking a slight cue from Alfred Hitchcock (one of Chabrol's heroes), but going another step further, This Man Must Die follows a logical turn of events for a single father who's son is run over in a hit and run by some cruel man in a fast car. In Hitchcock's hands this might be led by elegant stars, have even moments of scathing wit. But Chabrol's vision is a little darker, more that is seething under this surface, with the bourgeois as much of the commonplace as just the backdrop for the theater of revenge about to take place. But like the old master, Chabrol takes a twist with the material: as the father, Charles Thenier, going by an alias as a writer of children's books, gets more than acquainted with a woman who is the sister-in-law of the killer, gets to know the family more, and gets to know slimy, shrewd businessman and big-time garage owner Paul Decourt more, he's not really the only one out for his head.

As Chabrol goes further, it becomes a tale of Greek tragedy, or some variation on it. Paul's son, Philippe (a character as played by jean Yanne as if almost out of Bresson), hates his father with a passion, as his father has no respect for or tries to encourage his son with what he's got going on at school (perhaps conventionally, every scene with the father and son is a tense and violent outburst from father towards innocent son). One might think a collaboration might happen between the secretive, diary-writing Charles and the kind but frustrated kid, but this too isn't that simple. Chabrol also takes a smart tactic with that diary of Charles's; it could be just a narrative gimmick, and at times it feels as just that (maybe one of the film's only drawbacks, if only only on), but it does start to probe into a mindset that is one-track, and not without some reason in the genre sense. We're pitted on Charles's side, as he sneaks his way into Helen's heart, and then through her sometimes nice and other times (i.e. Paul's mother) savage in their verbal brutality.

But this same diary works as a something of a step-up from a psychological MacGuffin. Chabrol twists around with plot into motivation, and he pulls it off with his shooting and editing style, which applies just small, precise touches of the good old French New Wave into the proceedings (the occasional jump-cut, as any filmmaker knows, can't hurt under the right circumstances). What Chabrol's brilliant achievement is to transcend the trappings of a revenge film and to explore what the nature of malevolence brings past a simple crime- certainly these bastards have families, if they have the capacity to clear up their crimes with such skill like an owner of a hugely profitable auto-body/garage- and at the same time put a human angle into a plot that requires it. The actors do what they can (the man playing Charles, who I have not seen in other films, is very good in the lead, as is in his own right the man playing Paul Decourt, adding some layers to this rotten being), and despite some clunky scenes that do have to deal with the plot, there's some wit thrown in under the surface ("It's not a needle in a haystack, more like a needle in a box of needles,").

If This Man Must Die isn't a great film, and I'm not sure it is, it is at least a very successful example of finding some of the cracks in a revenge mystery, of adding that superlative mix of character into plot, and seeing what makes things like a diary, or a slip off a cliff, or an ambiguous ending, tick.

A car runs over the boy Michel Thenier while he is crossing the street in his calm village in Bretane, and the hit and run driver flees without any witness. His grieving father Charles Thenier (Michel Duchaussoy) becomes obsessed to find the reckless driver that murdered his only son to kill him and spends his time writing his diary and running his own investigation in garages and junkyards. One day, he learns by chance that the actress Helene Lanson (Caroline Cellier) might be the responsible for the death of Michel. Charles travels to Paris posing as screenplay writer, introduces himself using his pseudonym of Marc Andrieux and seduces Helene with the intention of killing her. However, Helene tells that her family is from Brittany and her brother-in-law Paul Decourt (Jean Yanne) owns a garage in Quimper. When Helene invites Charles to travel to her sister's house to know her family, Charles finds that Paul is a despicable man with a disease in the intestine, hated by his family and his own son Phillippe Decourt (Marc Di Napoli) wants to kill him.

"Que la Bête Meure" a.k.a. "This Man Must Die" is an ambiguous story of hatred and revenge with an open conclusion where it is not clear who really killed the detestable Paul Decourt. The odyssey of Charles to find the killer proves that he is a manipulative and Machiavellian man; therefore, it is impossible to conclude what is his final destination. One point that intrigues me and maybe a clue to the truth is when Paul calls Marc by Charles, when they are preparing to sail. Neither Claude Chabrol nor Charles Thenier would be capable to committing such mistake and then in the boat Charles tells to Paul that the entertaining is just beginning. This sequence corroborates with the deduction of the detective and associated to the profile of Charles that should be incapable to neglect his journal may indicate that Phillippe is really innocent, but I cannot assure that my interpretation is correct. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Besta Deve Morrer" ("The Beast Must Die")

Note: On 04 December 2024, I saw this film again.

This is a very fine psychologic thriller in some mellow tones. The story is simple : a boy gets killed by a mad car driver and his father wants to find the man to kill him. We know, from the start, that there can be two finale : the father kills the man, or he changes his mind. But Chabrol makes us think that it can have another finale... Or another? Or perhaps this one? Not at all! We never thought of the real finale. This is brillant, well written and directed movie. Very fine acting by Duchaussoy and Yanne.

If there is a Gallic director who likes to surprise his admirers with new tricks,unexpected methods and iconoclastic stance,it is new wave master Claude Chabrol.There have been many bright moments in his illustrious career when he has made films for them which could only be appreciated by a sharp brain and attentive eyes.Que la bête meure is a hard to classify film which is neither a thriller nor a run of the mill revenge drama.It is a film which plays with all leading conventions of these two genres.This man must die starts well with the depiction of a reckless accident.It is quite possible that this might induce inattentive viewers to regard it as a revenge drama.This is not the case as viewers are quickly caught in a maze of crucial dramatic scenes that have direct bearing on film's progress.Caroline Cellier and Michel Duchaussoy perform well as lovers whose relationship has a lot of bearing on this film's progress.Chabrol is known for avoiding a not so happy end for his film.This is the reason why "This man must die" will prepare you to imagine your own type of end in order to do injustice to the concept of happy end of this film.

With 'Que la bete meure' (The English title is 'This Man Must Die' and is inspired by a novel by Cecil Day-Lewis, yes, the father of ... ) Claude Chabrol ends the decade of his consecration as one of the most talented and prolific French film directors of the second half of the 20th century. He had started the 60s as a New Wave theorist and one of the most daring directors of this current and he ends it as a well-known director and one who is very close if not part of the mainstream. Along the way, he made 15 feature films, most of them thrillers, almost all inspired in one way or another by Alfred Hitchcock's films. The master of suspense was not only an idol for the directors of the French New Wave, but he also watched them with interest and he dialogued with them, literally and even artistically. For Chabrol, 'Que la bete meure' marks not only the end of an excellent decade of film directing, but also represents one of his best and most original films.

Most of the story takes place on the Breton shores of the ocean, in the villages and especially on the roads near the cliffs. The film begins with the traumatic intersection of two destinies - a child who returns from picking shells on the ocean shore is killed by a car in a hit-and-run accident. The father, a writer of books for children (Michel Duchaussoy) vowes to dedicate the rest of his life to finding the person responsible for his son's death and murder him. He entrusts his thoughts of revenge to a personal diary that will play a key role in the story. The private investigation, with a little luck, leads the hero to identify the probable culprit quite quickly, but that the revenge plans turn out to be more complicated than expected. As in many of Chabrol's films, we come to know a French bourgeois family in which nothing corresponds to appearances, and in which the hatred of members towards the head of the family comes to resemble the situations in Agatha Christie's detective novels in which almost all characters have good reasons to commit the crime. It is a very well written script, with romantic elements, suspense and social criticism, all under the sign of revenge, and which also has the quality of an ending that does not try to solve everything but lets the viewer to choose his favorite interpretation. By the way, the dialogues are written by Chabrol, but the script is inspired by a book by Cecil Day-Lewis, yes, the father off ...

Michel Duchaussoy and Caroline Cellier do their jobs well in the role of the vengeful father and of the star actress with whom the writer begins a relationship in order to reach her brother-in-law, the main suspect. As often, however, the negative role is the one that proves to be the most interesting and JJean Yanne eclipses the two, although he enjoys less screen time. The cinematography, as always at Chabrol, is excellent. Beyond the tranquility of the landscapes or in the luxury of bourgeois houses, the dramas are hidden and the tension is ready to erupt at any moment. 51 years after the premiere, the world of 'Que la bete meure' seems much simpler, without mobile phones and the Internet, but the effect is that in their absence we get faster to the essence of the feelings and passions of the characters - and here nothing looks old-fashioned. It is one of Chabrol's most carefully designed and best-written films - recommended viewing.