Rent Just Before Nightfall (1971)
3.6 of 5 from 78 ratings
1h 42min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Charles Masson, an advertising executive, is having an affair with Laura, the wife of his best friend, the architect Francois Tellier. When one of their S&M games goes too far, Laura is accidentally strangled. Even though the police are struggling to solve the murder, Charles finds it difficult to cope with the situation and to live a normal life with his two children and loving wife Helene.
- Actors:
- Celia, Marina Ninchi, Michel Bouquet, Stéphane Audran, François Périer, Jean Carmet, Dominique Zardi, Henri Attal, Paul Temps, Daniel Lecourtois, Clelia Matania, Pascal Gillot, Brigitte Périn, Marcel Gassouk, Anna Douking, Roger Lumont
- Directors:
- Claude Chabrol
- Writers:
- Claude Chabrol, Edouard Atiyah
- Aka:
- Juste Avant La Nuit
- Studio:
- Arrow Films
- Genres:
- Drama, Thrillers
- Collections:
- A Brief History of Film..., The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to Claude Chabrol, What We Were Watching in 1971
- Countries:
- France
- Awards:
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Reviews (2) of Just Before Nightfall
I found it quite dull - Just Before Nightfall review by NK
*** THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS *** A fairly unlikeable protagonist is having an affair with the wife of his best/only friend and strangles her to death during a bout of rough sex. The police only seen to carry out the most cursory investigation, but our hero is wracked with guilt. He confesses, first to his wife and then to his friend (the cuckolded husband). They both seem OK with it. The end.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Icy - Just Before Nightfall review by sb
FILM & REVIEW Just Before Nightfall Claude Chabrol was known as the French Hitchcock and although not as flashy as The Master shared some of his interests. One of his recurring themes is to take a successful middle class family and drop a juicy murder among them and see how they react. In this case Charles (Bouquet) is married to Helene (Audran) with two kids but he is having an affair with his best friends wife. She is into kinky stuff and gets him to strangle her but he goes too far and she dies. He calmly gets dressed and leaves but slowly what he has done begins to consume him. The police have no clues so it looks like he has got away with it but his guilt eats away at him more and more. He initially confesses the affair to Helene then the full story expecting condemnation or absolution but gets neither. She is calm about it and says it must have been an accident and wasn’t his fault and when he confesses to his friend Francois (Tellier) he takes the same stance. In fact all the parties seem to treat the murder with the same indifference which only drives Charles into greater bouts of guilt and he resolves to go to the police. This would bring scandal to the family so he sets in motion a chain of events even he cannot foresee. Superb subtle performances set against an ice winter is is one of Chabrol’s finest films - 4/5
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