Monsieur Hire

"Monsieur Hire" is a compelling and deep character study which tells of a reclusive and peculiarly enigmatic and antisocial man, the title character, who is a suspect in a murder investigation and who obsessively watches a beautiful young woman from across his apartment courtyard. A methodically plodding, plaintive, and somber film-making masterwork, "M. Hire" offers none of the big budget bennies and cheap tinsel and titillation of the usual Hollywood fare. Likely to be a love it or hate it flick, "M. Hire" should appeal most to Europic devotees and those into psychodramas and character studies. (B+)

Monsieur Hire

For a man who likes great cinematography, nice colors and a pretty female face, this film offers all of the above for me.

Director Patrice Leconte usually makes stylish movies and this is no exception. It's beautiful to view. So is Sandrine Bonnaire, the leading lady. I'll have to see what other films have her in them. There are numerous closeups of her in this movie. This French effort doesn't show much "skin," yet the film has an erotic appeal. That tells you something.

Michel Blanc, the male lead, plays a strange character but he's fascinating to watch, too.

To be honest, the film has its slow moments but it is mesmerizing at times, too. The story is interesting overall and aided by two surprise twists at the end.

I am perplexed and frustrated over why this film is not available on DVD on which this great photography could really be shown off.

Although this film that is a remake of the Julien Duvivier's "Panique" (released in 1945) only lasts about one hour and twenty minutes, there is so much to say about it. Among the qualities that this film shows, the most important is its main actor. Indeed, Michel Blanc performs brilliantly this weird character hated by everyone that is Monsieur Hire. Moreover, we can notice that the film doesn't only focus on the plot, it also focuses on the character of Monsieur Hire himself. Of course, this man is unpleasant towards his neighbours, but Patrice Leconte attempts to make us touching this man. Among the other qualities, let's quote: Sandrine Bonnaire's performance which is smooth but cruel, the good use of Brahms' music, the quality of the photography and the film set (especially Hire's flat). As a conclusion, a great film from a director who is, however, more famous for his comic films such as "Les Bronzés", "Viens chez moi, j'habite chez une copine".

'Monsieur Hire' is a film where you can find elements of horror, mystery, romance and comedy blending with each other and the result is a really endearing piece of work.

This is a film that is majorly about the deceptiveness of appearances. 'Monsieur Hire explores the distinctions between what appears to be the truth and what is the actual truth, both in terms of facts and in terms of the nature of characters. Patrice Leconte uses the the screenplay and his camera to play around with the viewers with certain misleading shots and by deliberately withholding information. Certain ideas get set up in the minds of the viewer, but these ideas get undercut and turned on their heads with the unearthing of the actual truths towards the later parts of the film.

Patrice Leconte's style of artistically using the lighting and his way of establishing thematic and character conflicts by the using of colour(blue and red) reminded me of Kieślowski. 'Monsieur Hire' foreshadows films like 'The Double Life of Veronique' and 'Three Colours trilogy'. It also has a Hitchcock-like vibe to it in the way the film keeps the viewer guessing and on the edge of the seat with the way the mystery elements are handled. The camera movements are fluid, especially the sideways movement which at times contradict the movement of the characters in the scene. The beautiful operatic score helps Leconte to establish the theatrically poetic vibe that he is going for.

'Monsieur Hire' is driven forward by a dynamic, passionate and tender performance by Michel Blanc. He has to play a character who stays completely detached from the rest of the world, is very unsociable and not at all gregarious. Maybe similarities can be drawn between the characters of Hire and Gerd Wiesler from 'The Lives of Others'. Blanc forces the viewer to completely sympathise with him and root for him.

In a nutshell, 'Monsieur Hire' is a poetic, touching and visually polished piece of work that I can't help but recommend.

This movie is without a doubt, one of the best and most depressing movies that I've seen in a long time. With minimal expense a masterpiece was made in this film. The actors embodied both sensuality and callousness within the confines of a single scene. Not sinking to a trashy voyeur level, this movie proves that nudity is not necessary for sexuality, but at the same time displays one of life's little known truths. We all need to love and be loved.