La femme en question

'The Woman in Question' shows the same person, the fairground fortune-teller Astra (real name: Agnes) as five different people saw her. Astra has been found strangled and the police chief tries to put together what has happened to her.

Jean Kent is excellent - for me, she was at her best in sleazy, tarty roles and the episode seen from her sister's (Susan Shaw) point of view is no exception. I love the moment when we first see this version of Astra, sprawled in bed in a messy room, drunk. The music is wonderful here.

Charles Victor plays Mr Pollard, the pet shop owner, with a fine degree of understatement. Hermione Baddeley is equally good as the nosy neighbour Mrs Finch.

Jean Kent (in 'Sixty Voices' by Brian McFarlane) felt the episode closest to the character in her view was the happy-go-lucky girl as seen by the Irish sailor played by John McCallum. Her least favourite was the Susan Shaw episode. Apparently Bette Davis had originally been in mind for the part.

A very cleverly made film and a classic British film.

This British mystery is clever in showing us the varying perspectives of five people connected to a woman who has been murdered, one flashback after another, as the police question them. It's amusing to see how each remembers their own behavior as better than others do, sometimes in subtle ways, and other times with larger distortions, and wonder how much of it they believe vs. Knowingly spin in their accounts. This is how it is in life; each of us are the stars of our own little shows, and our views of people or events can be wildly different, despite underlying commonality.

While many are quick to point out the parallel to Rashomon, released just a couple of months earlier, it's important to note that Kurosawa's film had its characters telling almost completely different narratives, whereas in The Woman in Question it's more of a matter of different perspectives. In Rashomon, there is no ultimate, objective truth, and it remains elusive. In this film, there is clear truth, and we are unsurprised when the detective gets things sorted.

The concept to this film was intriguing, and allowed the actors to show off their range, Jean Kent especially (the woman who gets murdered), but also Hermione Baddeley (the neighbor) and Dirk Bogarde (the sister's boyfriend), among others. The film is not quite as strong as the mystery is unraveled, though Duncan Macrae brings that classic British approach I'm fond of. Unfortunately, the final clue and killer's instant confession upon being confronted felt rather hokey, and the ending just a little too quick and tidy to feel completely satisfying. Not bad though.

When a fortune teller named Astra (Jean Kent) is found murdered, the police investigate and hear several versions of the kind of woman she was in "The Woman in Question," a 1950 British film directed by Anthony Asquith. Besides Kent, the film features the excellent Hermoine Baddeley and Dirk Bogarde, still in the early part of his career.

The police interview five women and therefore, get five different stories. To her neighbor Mrs. Finch (Baddeley), Astra was pure class, gracious and sophisticated with questionable taste in men.

To Pollard, the owner of the pet store who was crazy about her, she was pretty, quiet, and sweet (though the audience can see how manipulative she is); to Baker (Bogarde) who wants to do a nightclub act with her, she is a tart; to her sister, she's a slovenly drunk.

Finally, from a violent sailor, Mike Murray, she's a faithless woman who cheats on him while he's away. We do learn that Astra's husband is in a hospital, badly injured in the war and not expected to live, yet she doesn't visit him. She also lets Pollard do things for her for free and must realize he has a crush on her.

All in all, an interesting and sometimes funny film. Kent is excellent in all of Astra's manifestations, and, since I am a Dirk Bogarde fan, I loved seeing him and hearing him with an American accent (which he actually did pretty well). Baddeley, always excellent, is a riot.

"Five Angles on Murder" or "The Woman in Question" is not the most exciting film you'll ever see, and like a lot of British films, it's a bit slow in the beginning, but it's enjoyable.

I personally enjoyed this film. It was something that I had been trying to catch up with on Talking Pictures for months - I kept recording it, without getting around to watching it.

The film had an interesting story telling technique - five witnesses giving different versions of the story, all conflicting with each other. I have wondered who thought of the idea first, the makers of the Japanese film: "Rashomon"; or the makers of this film, seeing that both films were released in the same year.

The film seemed to reflect a lot about what it was like living in Post War Britain: rationing, black market, austerity and people struggling to make a living.

The parts about neighbours just walking in and out each other's houses would seem a bit far-fetched to the younger viewers of today, but although some of my childhood memories of the 1950's are a bit patchy, I do remember life being like that.

However, I don't think a newspaper delivery boy would have been allowed to go through the front door and right up into a woman's bedroom just to deliver a paper.

I thought the way Jean Kent, Susan Shaw and some of the other players were able to take on entirely different personalities as each version of the story unfolded was quite commendable - some smart pieces of acting there.

I was guessing about who the murderer was all the way through the film.

A Woman in Question (recently IMDb lists it as Five Angels on Murder) is a Rashomon like story told in flashback. The story develops after a women is found dead and police detectives question witnesses, each of whom provides a different account of events leading to the murder. Until the very end, the ulterior motives of each of the characters remain unclear.

It is a greatly underrated movie that is not easily accessible. Anthony Asquith handles the material really well and masterfully builds the suspense. In addition, solid performances are provided by the cast.

If you get an opportunity to watch this movie, do not miss it. Hopefully the movie will become more accessible in the years to come.