Stéphane Audran has been in a wheelchair for years, since she and her husband, Jean-Claude Brialy were in an auto accident. Her disposition has, shall we say, soured over the years, and she orders Brialy's mistress, Catherine Spaak, to give him up. At home they get into an argument, and he locks her in; with the servants gone, he believes he will have a couple of days free. But she manages to get outside. Her wheelchair loses control, and she winds up dead. Inspector Michel Serrault clears him, and he can inherit his wife's enormous estate. There is one small catch, which he doesn't mind: he has to give her sister -- also played by Mlle Audran -- five hundred francs a month, and she is to live at his house. At least, he doesn't mind until she puts on a wig, sits down in her sister's wheelchair, and insists that he's trying to kill her to Serrault. Also Robert Hossein shows up and insists that Brialy pay him for killing his wife. Hossein also begins fabricating evidence that Brialy committed the murder.
There are one or two psychological points in this psychological thriller directed by Etienne Périer that I don't find convincing. This, despite them specifically being addressed at the end. Probably it was the discontent at their continuing absurdity throughout that lingered.
Nonetheless, as matters progress in logical but unforeseen manners, I found myself continually engaged by this mordant story. A small role for director Claude Chabrol as a half-blind railroad guard was a sizable asset, as well as a key role by Michel Creton as a pharmacist whose shop is next to Mlle. Spaak's.
