Friday, March 21, 2008

Movie Notes: The Bride Wore Black (1967)


I don't know about that dish served cold cliche, but revenge makes for good drama, as countless examples, from Hamlet to I Spit on Your Grave, have shown. The Bride Wore Black is another 60's classic starring Jeanne Moreau as the force of vengeance in a film that Fançois Trouffaut wrote so that he could give her a role totally different from her character in Jules and Jim. Here she's mean, malicious and pissed off as a woman whose husband was shot dead on her wedding day, who has made a list of the five men responsible with the intention of picking them off one by one.

If this sounds a bit like Kill Bill, it's worth remembering that Quentin Tarantino is a huge Truffaut fan, and it's easy to see why. I had forgotten what fun Truffaut films were at one time. La Mariée était en noir is snappy, trashy, pop pleasure, sort of a French take on Hitchcock. While we're drawing connections, let's note that Truffaut was a huge Hitchcock fan and even got Bernard Hermann to do the score here. The web of connections from artist to artist is its own language, and there's a real joy revealed in a clever homage. The Bride Wore Black is fun because we get to watch a great director, with a strong visual sense, having fun telling a dark story.

5 comments:

Holly said...

This sounds like an awesome film, and makes me wish I knew more French. Someday....

Rufus said...

Oh, I'd get it from Netflix anyway and watch it with the subtitles. I'm definitely not one of those people who thinks it's cheating to watch subtitled movies. I never would have seen Kurosawa's movies otherwise.

Holly said...

Does Netflix operate in the EU? We saw an advert for something the Post does that's similar (rental by post) but not actually the same. Of course, the entire library is also available by Post, which I think is f'ing brilliant.

Rufus said...

I'm not sure. I know it works in Canada. Out of curiosity, do the papers give out DVDs and CDs there? They do here, and I really like it.

Holly said...

We've not seen the give-aways here.