Death in a French Garden (1985)

Just perfect...

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

"Death In A French Garden" is a film that only the French could have made, and, in this case at least, this is meant as a compliment. It's both low-down and elegant; it's sexually very frank, with characters on the edge of morality, but at the same time the director keeps winking at you, telling you not to take all of this too seriously. This attitude is personified by the lead of the film, Christophe Malavoy, who stays bemused and unshocked for, say, 95% of the time, even though he meets nymphomaniacs, weirdos, assassins, etc. Some of these characters may appear extraneous at first, but they all serve their purpose as the constantly surprising plot unfolds. And classical music buffs will love the eclectic soundtrack. *** out of 4.

Michel Deville is a French filmmaker known for his aesthetic refinement and "Péril en la Demeure" bears its author's trademark. It's filmed with elegance and everything from the scenery to the acting, the camera angles to the music without mentioning witty dialogs breathes the refined. One can't forget the neat link shots, the fluid editing that add to the pernicious charm this shady thriller exudes from its three exploited mainsprings: perversion, manipulation and voyeurism. Nearly everyone in this film is a peeping tom like the offbeat female neighborhood (Anémone) who films the lovemaking between the guitarist teacher David (Christophe Malavoy) and Julia (Nicole Garcia) or Julia's husband Graham (Michel Piccoli) who watched these lovemaking sessions on the videotape. As for the manipulation, Julia leads David up the garden path by making him believe that he killed her husband while seasoned killer Daniel (Richard Bohringer) tries to make him understand that he's got a mission to fulfill.Deville diverts the codes, the ingredients of the genre to his own advantage to create a stylish, idiosyncratic thriller and a mirror film directed to the viewer about his peeping tom side. It's easy to let oneself immerse in this universe and to forget the irregularities or glitches that undermine a little the storytelling even if Deville has recourse to zones of shadow and clues likely to explain the characters' motivations. If the filmmaker bore this in mind, he can be forgiven for his possible mistakes.

There are films where things happen that at first do not make sense.So you think about it all during and maybe after.Maybe you watch it again.Now MEMENTO would be one of those films.Then there would be DEATH IN A FRENCH GARDEN.Almost every aspect of the plot makes no conventional sense.There are some seriously open ended concepts.eg the father allegedly had boyfriends earlier in life,there is mention that the mother only wants the guitar teacher because he looks like her brother.Who really wants who and how are any of them really connected?The alleged hit-man seems to have set the teacher up for the fall all along,but then doesn't have any bullets in his gun on purpose at the time needed.OK,every aspect of his character screams wannabe lover of the teacher,which is maybe why he allows him to know a version of the truth which results in him coming into 300,000 Francs for making every mistake in the book. Why is there no lock on the new place?What is the point of the teasing,perverse neighbour who lies about everything? I ended up thinking that the makers of this film were having a laugh because every aspect of every character could be a lie.Not one thing about any of them holds up to examination or belies true human interaction and behaviour. Even though at the end it is totally frustrating,I still liked the damn thing!Its open to numerous interpretations,but I don't think any would truly hold water.I think really its just a deconstruction of the labyrinthine narrative of the conventional thriller/neo-noir.None of it means anything...because I may not sleep for a week thinking about what it all means really...and no film is that important!

Péril en la demeure is a rather unusual little thriller, in which musician David Aurphet starts an affair with the mother of his pupil. Her husband finds out and David's life has some nightmarish turns. I have to admit that my description makes it sound rather conventional but it certainly is not.It is debatable how well this film works as a thriller, but there is no doubt that the love scenes between Nicole Garcia and Christophe Malavoy are absolutely stunning. They ooze sensuality and are almost like a ballet, both people moving sensitively, slowly, and silently, suggesting, responding to the other, teasing and hesitating, touching and retreating. These few little scenes belong to the most erotic moments ever to be put on celluloid.