Piège pour Cendrillon (1965)

Piège pour Cendrillon: Directed by André Cayatte. With Dany Carrel, Madeleine Robinson, Hubert Noël, Jean Gaven. The young Michèle Isola, who is about to inherit a fortune from her godmother, scarcely survives a terrible fire. When she regains consciousness it becomes evident she suffers with amnesia.

“The sixties were a new phase in André Cayatteu0026#39;s career ;he sometimes championed causes ,his trademark (u0026quot;Le Glaive Et La Balanceu0026quot; ,u0026quot;Les Risques Du Métieru0026quot; )but he also tried new tacks with some success;of course panned by the would be heroes of the new wavelet ,he nevertheless innovated :u0026quot;La vie Conjugaleu0026quot; was two different movies ,depicting a coupleu0026#39;s life ,from the husbandu0026#39;s and from the wifeu0026#39;s point of views;u0026quot; Le Glaive Et La balanceu0026quot; renewed the movie-trial ;the only real horror was u0026quot;Les Chemins De Kathmandouu0026quot;)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd thereu0026#39;s u0026#39;Piège Pour Cendrillonu0026quot;;Cayatte was not exactly in his field when he broaches this pure psychological thriller;by and large ,I do not go much for Japrisotu0026#39;s stuff ,which is ,IMHO ,no match for Boileau-Narcejac ,Frederic Dard (his thrillers of course),let alone Agatha Christie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThat said ,u0026quot; Piège Pour Cendrillon u0026quot; is a different matter;the subject is not new (u0026quot;Spellboundu0026quot; , the contemporary u0026quot; the third day u0026quot; ( 1965) u0026quot;shatteredu0026quot; and countless others dealt with amnesia );but the treatment,including four parts ,each one containing the same verb in four different tenses of French conjugation was downright disturbing;and the ending was all the more baffling since the mystery was not solved .(It was the reader who decided :Jean Anouilhu0026#39;s screenplay opted for a u0026quot;moralu0026quot; ending )The book was the subject of many serious studies and essays by psychoanalysts ,which was not the case for stuff such as ,say,u0026quot;Lu0026#39;Eté Meurtrieru0026quot;.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA devilish conspiracy involving a victim of a fire who awakes in a hospital ,suffering from amnesia:is she Dominique or Michèle? Might she be a criminal?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWe already knew that Cayatte had a certain flair for film Noir,as certain aspects of u0026quot;Le Glaive Et La Balanceu0026quot; showed;abetted by two excellent actresses,he succeeded in building a threatening atmosphere.Madeleine Robinson gives goose flesh in her portrayal of a calculating woman :too often overlooked ,she was definitely one of our very best thespians .Dany Carrel found here her lifetime role: she played two parts (two different personalities in flashbacks);the more she goes back in the past and tries to find who she really is ,the more sheu0026#39;s confused and lost .u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRené Dary,a veteran from the silent age (Feuilladeu0026#39;s Bébé),appears as the surgeon .u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRemade in England (u0026quot;trap for Cinderellau0026quot; 2013):this time two different actresses play the amnesiac ,but the movie succumbs to contemporary clichés (lesbianism,nudity,flashy cinematography).”