Die Wahrheit (1960)
27KDie Wahrheit: Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot. With Brigitte Bardot, Paul Meurisse, Charles Vanel, Sami Frey. A liberated small-town girl and the family’s black sheep moves to Paris with her sister, only to find herself standing trial for the shocking murder of her young lover. Was his killing premeditated or was this a crime of passion?
“This comes as a surprise entry in Brigitte Bardots filmography. Surely the blonde siren wasnu0026#39;t everybodyu0026#39;s first chance for a female lead in a Henri-Georges Clouzot film; then again, the role she is playing fits perfectly. Dominique Marceau is a pretty young girl eager to leave her parents home and live with her sister in Paris. Other than her, Dominique is living out her lust for life, hanging around with friends, with parties, drinking and casual affairs. By coincidence she encounters her sisters fiancée, a very serious young musician. Eventually they fall in love, but Dominique canu0026#39;t be faithful and Gilbert (Sami Freys character) cannot adjust to her way of life. They break up, reunite, and break up again with Gilbert more and more being ridiculed by her affairs with other men. On the other hand, Dominique cannot let him go either, and when he suddenly loses all his passion and returns to her sister, Dominique makes a decision. This is all told in flashback sequences during the trial in which Dominique is accused of Gilberts murder. The people participated in finding the truth, Clouzot tells us, are incapable of leaving their personal convictions and moral perspectives out of the court. Whatever the verdict may be, Dominique wonu0026#39;t leave as an innocent. – u0026quot;La Veritéu0026quot; has some memorable scenes, not least the one where Gilbert is conducting Strawinskys u0026quot;Oiseau de Feuu0026quot; on television, which blends over to the next scene while the music continues without a break. While being a serious drama about passion and justice, Clouzots film still makes good use of Bardots erotic energy and yet there is never a moment where the images make the story irrelevant.”
