Péril en la demeure

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.

This worked way better in the 80s and has not aged that well. And I'm talking about the movie, so no pun inteneded. When it comes to story it's quite out there, mixing thriller and erotic elements to quite a "joyful bundle" (also a very disturbing and crazy one).

Now people in here may not really act or react exactly like one would imagine they do. The german dub would add negative points imho, so just keep that in the back of your mind in case you are thinking about watching it that way (unfortunately for many DVD releases in Germany while having the original audio included, do not have subtitles). Nudity and minor violence included - does that sound appealing?

Despite its merits, Michel Deville's previous foray into the Mystery genre, 'Eaux profondes' of Patricia Highsmith, had not exactly proved an unqualified success and could be accounted a 'near miss'.

He has scored a palpable hit here however with this adaptation of 'Sur Terre comme au Ciel' by René Belletto which had won the Le Grand Prix for detective fiction.

Belletto's narrative style is not to everyone's taste but he has created a gallery of intriguing, shadowy and morally ambiguous characters.

When a book becomes a film and text becomes image, the casting can very often disappoint but here Deville has chosen well.

Nicole Garcia is the femme fatale who wastes no time in bedding Christophe Malavoy as the unsuspecting guitar teacher who has been been hired to tutor her daughter. Her husband is played by Michel Piccoli whose unpleasantness is concealed behind an apparent Bourgeois civility. Although a small role, where this brilliant actor is concerned, no part is small. The two most fascinating characters are Edwige and Daniel played by Anémone and Richard Bohringer. She is a much too inquisitive neighbour whose facial disfigurement in the novel has been changed for filmic purposes to a pronounced limp. Anémone looks as if she has stepped straight out of an Almodóvar movie and gives a wonderfully quirky performance. Bohringer is a hit man whose attraction to Christophe is subtly depicted as being homosexual in nature. Physically the actor is a far cry from the Daniel of Belletto's imagining but his hoarse delivery and underlying menace are utterly mesmerising.

Plenty of twists and turns here and a surprise ending. Well it certainly surprised me!

Raymonde Guyot deservedly picked up a Cesar for her superlative editing whilst the music of Granados, Villa-Lobos and the divine Schubert is used to great effect.

Deville himself was awarded the Cesar for his direction and although his entire output could never be described as 'mainstream' this stylish and sophisticated neo-noir is arguably his most accessible and accomplished work.

I decided to watch 'Péril en la demeure' (English title is 'Death in a French Garden') mainly for Michel Piccoli, an actor I really like. But his is a supporting role and he appears in only a few scenes. This was the first of my disappointments with this film. Michel Deville is a director who was quite prolific between the '60s and the '80s and many of his films - comedies or thrillers, featuring hot, impossible and illicit love affairs in most of them - often manage to create an attractive cinematic atmosphere. 'Peril en la demeure' can be categorized as an erotic thriller, with an adulterous love story complicating itself in a criminal intrigue, but Deville's tendency to focus on style rather than substance manages to annihilate both facets of the story. 'Péril en la demeure' is a film that has aged badly, the 37 years that passed since its production are visible not only in car brands, in videotapes or in the form of phones but also, or especially, in the script.

Music teacher David is hired by the well-to-do couple Graham and Julia to give guitar lessons to their talented and beautiful daughter Vivianne, who looks amazingly as Nabokov's Lolita. Only a few minutes in the film David and Julia find themselves in bed, involved in a hot relationship. Not long after, they discover that they are being watched and even filmed on videotapes, perhaps by the curious neighbor Edwige, perhaps by the mysterious Daniel who appears as a savior at some point in David's life and confesses to him that he is a professional ... paid killer. Inevitably, at some point in the story, dead bodies will show up.

'Péril en la demeure' brings together two stories - one can be called romantic, the other a thriller. For this genre of films to succeed, the two narrative threads need to work together and amplify each other. The problem is that both stories lack credibility and their combination doesn't work or bind them together. I failed to understand either the romantic motivations of the characters or the logic of the detective action. Why does the rich woman suddenly fall in love with the teacher who has only one egg in his otherwise empty refrigerator? (besides that he eats it with chocolate, because he probably has no money for bread!). Christophe Malavoy as David does not give us enough reasons, he seems more puzzled by what is happening to him than seductive. Who planned the theft and the murders? Was seduction part of the plan? Nothing makes much sense. There are also good parts in this film, but they can be found in cinematic details, such as the sets (decadent houses with obligatory gardens, good for burying the traces of crimes), the music and some remarkable acting performances. Nicole Garcia, in the period when she had not started her career as a director, looks great. Anémone and Richard Bohringer, actors I hadn't noticed before, create two excellent, vague and slightly mysterious, supporting roles. Anaïs Jeanneret, the young and beautiful actress who played the daughter in this film is amazing. Where did her career disappear? But all this is too little to save, at least from the perspective of 2022, this film.

This is a great movie. I found it due to a long list of an IMDB user named "Mister_Wolf". (5.395 movies!).I don't believe he is gonna read this ever, but i am grateful for his lists, i have found so many hidden gems there.

Now, regardless of this : This is a strange movie, unique and original. You can call it a drama/mystery movie or a drama/romance movie. Personally, i think it's something like a neo-noir film which works more like a deconstruction of this genre. It doesn't take itself too seriously but simultaneously, it's not a parody. Just plays by its own rules. There are erotic scenes here, intense scenes, "what the hell" moments and it's not just enjoyable but even exciting. At some point, i was totally hooked and i was very curious to see what's gonna happen. It's "Art" but not "Artsy". And i empathized a lot with the leading character.

Another movie with "personality" and "identity" not like the tasteless trash that are being served to the moviegoers nowadays.