Review of Monsieur Hire (1989) by Lori B — 20 Apr 2013

Monsieur Hire (played by Michel Blanc) is the protagonist and title of this film. The lonely middle aged bachelor finds a nasty habit in spying on his new attractive neighbor, who he falls for. She is Alice, an engaged blonde who has deception flowing through her veins. This is only the smaller portion of the story though, recently a murder occurred in the neighborhood. An unconventional detective is convinced that Monsieur Hire committed the crime. The evidence is stacked against Hire, and if we knew him, we'd accuse him to. That's where the story begins. The film treats this case elegantly, at the same time everyone continues to live their lives, the murder is in the background.

Monsieur Hire is eventually gently confronted by Alice, who has noticed him spying on her on two separate occasions. After this point the story has three twists. The first two shouldn't have caught me as off guard as they did, the final one was an epic scene. The film is under 80 minutes long, you realize at the end that most of this was leading up to the conclusion. Before this point I looked at this as a solid romantic thriller, by the time the end came my mood changed. It was possibly the most devastating scene I've ever encountered. It gave me goose bumps, and I remained silenced for a solid amount of time. I was left speechless, this alone made this film leave a mark on me. One of my favorite French films, elegant but unconventional. The rawness of this film, is not to be put in words.

4 stars+.