jcappy
"The Bride Wore Black" is a cogent, strongly conceived, and executed film. Truffaut makes us see what he sees--in detail. The cast of characters is invariably attuned as in Jeanne Moreau's protagonist and Charles Denner's Fergus, and never stereotyped, down to Bliss's doorman, the niece, and the pacing prison guard pried on in the finale. There's some humor above the undercurrents in the early going but there's no exit from Julie Kohler's wrenching and redemptive journey. This in a sense is "The Story of Adele H" in reverse with the impulse to justice moving outward, not inward.For simply put--and the film is simply put, here the violated makes the violators pay. Julie Kohler must echo the indifference of the five-man clique, (all hunters and womanizers) who carelessly murdered her bridegroom, with a retaliatory plan. For these men live life with impunity; they are free to pursue their professions, free to prey on women, and free to be free--of memory and guilt.Julie's retribution begins when her suicide attempts are foiled by her mother. But a patched-up life is not on the table: she tells her confessor that as a dead woman, she can only "do what must be done." The means to which are as obvious as the criminals themselves--she will kill as they kill, and she will impersonate female to enter their sexist lives. For retribution is the last thing each expects, and female worship the first thing each expects.Bliss is living the life of a playboy. To him females are fluff, and more or less whores. He records for his pals the sound of his fiancé's rubbing stockings as she crosses her legs. He is fascinated by Kohler: "my fiancé is lovely, but...." She is an "apparition"--one that easily leads him to his "accidental" death on a balcony.Mr. Coral "takes refuge in dreams" exclusively of females. He's so perfect a dupe of Kohler's arranged drama that he can even pass off a remark practically announcing it. Preparing for their bachelor room rendezvous, he hides nude paintings and during it furtively peeks at Kohler's legs. While imbibing his poisoned drink and sensing its soporific effects he coos: "you are as magic," "you made me drink a love potion" and confides that he's "only had" a few women in his life. But it's too late for Kohler's wisdom: "lovers are made and not born." For none of his pleas as to innocence in "love" or murder impact Kohler."I may not look like Don Juan but politicians make it good with women" says Morane, whose furtive sexual glances and dismissal of his "perfect wife" are slid back a bit in comparison to the first targets--but whose memory is equally occluded. For momentarily, like a child, he finds himself locked up in his own closet, a victim of Kohler's ruse. "For you it's in the past, but I have to live through it every night" she says, as she seals his fate with masking tape.Fergus, the commercial designer, is both the most challenging mark, and the quintessential dupe. Besides exuding the artist confidence around women, he's the consummate "skirt-chaser," and the master female connoisseur. And such a glib promoter of these feats... talk, talk... as to rattle even his steely new model. But his memory of Kohler is so maximally muddled that he invites her to model in the role of Diana the Huntress--live arrows and all, and proceeds to let himself fall in love with his scantily-dressed model. This, of course, has two obvious effects: he falls in love (is rejected, and out of anger and fantasy paints Kohler in the nude on his wall as he straddles his bed for support) and soon thereafter is murdered, an arrow to the back.Kohler, her nude image left unblackened, thus sets up her final coup against the imprisoned Delvaux. As to Corey, Fergus' sporting pal and finger-man in Kohler's arrest.... the detective spotlights him when inquiring whether her list of villains is now closed. She replies: "Yes. He's the sort of man who can't keep his hands off women, but I would not kill him." Which means that Corey is worthy of some list, but not her specific one which, of course, has led her to prison in any case. But her statement also implies her revenge is by no means simply revenge. It belongs to the social web the film represents. There is a unifying spirit behind her, which starts with opposition to the hunter/womanizer dyad and extends to male violence in general. Her primary revenge is for the unseen, starting with herself, and extending to all women, and only ending with her groom. She never injures another female in her quest--to the point of risking her plan to save Miss Becker, and she appears to subtly perceive the plight of the women belonging to the misogynists' lives she tracks.Kohler is not a femme fatale in any sense of the word. There is no myth, no magic, no nether region of the psyche here. She does what has to be done because she has lost her world and the perpetrators must pay. But at each turn, she must continue to dodge bullets other than the one aimed at her in Delvaux's cross-hair as she descended the church's steps. She must continually accommodate herself to sexualizing projectiles, which is akin to a form of hazing--and a further loss of life. That this erotizicing makes these men complicit in their own specific deaths, does not fill the loss. However, being projected as nothing but an image, does broaden, deepen, and strengthen her motivation.So, the film asks: who murders? who obsesses? who controls? And the answers lie in the very male scheme of things which Kohler is called upon to undo. It's only unfortunate that the cost of the undoing is in the doing which must bring a life sentence.
blanche-2
Jeanne Moreau is the bride in "The Bride Wore Black," a 1968 film directed by Francois Truffaut. It's a Hitchcockian homage, with innuendos of that director's work throughout. Moreau is a woman who marries her childhood sweetheart, but as they leave the church, he is shot and killed. She sets out to avenge his death. More of the story unfolds with each murder.This is a very stylish, mesmerizing film with a score by Bernard Hermann, who did so many scores for Hitchcock. This score reminds me of "Vertigo" - in fact, the film reminds me of "Vertigo" more than other Hitchcock films: the opening scene at the window is reminiscent of Stewart and his partner chasing the man in the beginning of "Vertigo"; the flashbacks as Moreau remembers what happened that fateful day, as when Kim Novak goes back to her room and writes to Stewart; the portrait that looks like Moreau in the artist's studio - shades of the Carlotta portrait.As others have pointed out, "The Bride Wore Black" asks us to make some leaps in logic, otherwise known as plot holes. The biggest is how the Moreau character knew whom to go after. I could have lived with the others and somehow justified them in my own mind, but that's a biggie. The twist ending is both cold-blooded and remarkable.The charismatic actress Jeanne Moreau is perfectly cast as a determined, cold woman with one goal. Her character is clever, attractive, and as determined as they come.An excellent film that keeps the viewer engrossed throughout. It was wonderful to see it on TCM after not seeing it for many years. I wish it were available on DVD.
Tweekums
This film is an excellent example of a revenge thriller which follows Julie Kohler, the bride of the title, as she exacts revenge on those responsible for her husband's death on their wedding day. We aren't immediately told what happened to make her want to kill the men concerned but learn throughout the film.When we are first introduced to Julie Kohler we see her attempting to throw herself from a window but this suicide attempt is prevented and soon she says that she is going away. She boards a train bound for Paris but promptly gets off on the other side and walks over the tracks to the other platform. She then seeks out a man who she only knows by name and lures him to a balcony during a party she has gatecrashed. After tricking him into climbing over the rail to retrieve a scarf she has "accidentally" dropped she says her name and no more then pushes him to his death. As she proceeds through her list of targets we learn why she wants to kill them and how the people who seemingly have no connection came to kill her husband.The film is fairly gripping and well acted, especially by Jeanne Moreau in the title role. It does have one or two plot holes, the main one being how did she learn who was responsible for her husband's death when the police hadn't found any of them. That can be forgiven though, I think as spending time on that would have detracted from the main story.I would recommend this to anybody who likes revenge thrillers even if they don't usually like non-English films, I'd forgotten I was reading subtitles a few minutes in.
