Les granges brûlées

"Les Granges Brûlées" has a good cast, eye-massaging snowbound locations and a promising start (a dead body is discovered in the very first scene), but soon turns out to be a dull and disappointing murder mystery nonetheless. Alain Delon wanders around looking glum, and does no real investigating or deducting like his character is supposed to be doing; at two different points, even other characters in the film comment on the fact that he is just spinning his wheels. A terrible resolution to the mystery drags an already poor movie even further down, to a *1/2 out of 4 rating.

This odd pairing had already happened once the year before with "la veuve Couderc" ,a George Simenon adaptation ,with fair results.

Like the first one,"les granges brulées " (=the burned barns :nothing burns in the movie ,mind you,it's the name of Signoret's farm)takes place in a rural area ,to be precise in the Jura Mountains,in the Franche-Comté.Signoret is cast again as a tough farmer who dominates her whole family (her daughter is played by her own daughter Catherine Allégret).A woman's corpse is found near the farm.And a judge (Delon) comes to the place to investigate .The family provides the usual suspects and on with the show.

Well,the detective plot is never exciting and its solution devoid of interest.What matters is the depiction of the family's clannishness (which Jacques Becker had brilliantly tackled in "Goupi Main Rouges" thirty years before ),the beautiful snow-covered landscapes and the young ones 'longing to leave their native mountains for the city.Delon and Signoret are both good and give sensitive performances.But most people think they did a better job in "la veuve Couderc".Nice score by Jean-Michel Jarre.

Yeah both Delon and Signoret play brilliantly here. With Signoret in this film being the dominant member of the family that takes almost all the decisions and not hesitating to confront the judge at any time while at the same time respecting some of her family members' decisions to move on and do something on their own in their lives, meaning she cares for them. This film is a whodunnit about a corpse found in a small village in France and Delon's character suspects that the family might be involved. The places of cinematography are very few. Only the house of the family, The Hotel in which Delon resides, the snowy countryside and Raul's bar. It's a little bit tiresome watching Delon leave the family house then comeback the next day etc etc. And yes the movie does have a very slow pace. It's length is 98 minutes but it feels like it has an additional hour of runtime. There are some interesting scenes but they don't make the film rewatchable again a second time. Especially with that extremely underwhelming ending that seems as if it was placed on the script at the last moment. Good drama and acting but I really don't want to watch this film again.

not the story is important in this case. but only the new meeting between Signoret and Delon. a woman and her family in a small community. a murder. a judge. and an artistic meeting who becomes revelation, maybe not surprise but splendid exercise of use the characters nuances. two great actors and inspired music, beautiful images and the atmosphere of a village are ingredients of a film about values, choices, family spirit , justice. Simone Signoret is the same and this fact is, in same measure, a virtue and a sin. Delon gives a good sketch for a tired man , part of his job and shadow of his life. a film who reminds many others. but who remains special for the tension who defines it after the lost of story details.