Die Drohung (1961)
38KDie Drohung: Directed by Gérard Oury. With Robert Hossein, Marie-José Nat, Elsa Martinelli, Paolo Stoppa. Josepha is 18 and bored. As she tries to impress the local moped gang, she accuses one of her acquaintances of a horrible murder.
“Gerard Oury hit the big time with his two comedies u0026quot;le corniaudu0026quot; (1963) and u0026quot;la grande vadrouilleu0026quot; ,the latter being the greatest post-war phenomenon of the whole French cinema:it really smashed all records of the box-office.Commercially,it was a tour de force;artistically,well…letu0026#39;s be nice!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUnfortunately,all his previous works remained in obscurity .And this one u0026quot;la menaceu0026quot; is a very interesting if minor film noir.Robert Hosseinu0026#39;s and Marie-José Natu0026#39;s performances are first-class,ambiguous,intense.Josepha(Marie-José Nat) is some kind of female James Dean ,an eighteen-year old girl who has been an outcast most of her life.She lives with an old uncle who does not give her any affection.She tries to join the local pack,but even with these youngsters ,sheu0026#39;s ill-at-ease.So she tries to catch their attention by accusing the chemist (Robert Hossein)of a horrible murder.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHossein and Nat are wonderful.Of course sheu0026#39;s attracted by him,and vice versa ,but thereu0026#39;s something nasty in their relationship:check the chemistu0026#39;s attitude in the movie theater when the couple is watching Jean Cocteauu0026#39;s u0026quot;la belle et la bêteu0026quot;.This work owes more to Hossein than to Oury:Hossein is par excellence the novelist Frederic Dard hero ,Frederic Dard whose u0026quot;toi le veninu0026quot;he adapted (an IMDb recommendation).The ending might have influenced Claude Chabrol for u0026quot;le boucheru0026quot; (1969).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA long flashback,the movie brilliantly opens and closes :first picture is a Natu0026#39;s closed eyes close-up;last one is another close-up:she closesu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eher eyes,and she seems doomed to endless night.”
