Review of The Bride Wore Black (1968) by Ricardo O — 06 Apr 2011

The Bride Wore Black is a flawed, but very well made thriller by French auteur François Truffaut. It's Truffaut's homage to his idol Alfred Hitchcock, whom he had famously interviewed prior to this, which is probably the reason he decided to make a film based on material by an author who Hitchcock had previously adapted (Rear Window by Cornell Woolrich). He also collaborated with another person that famously worked with Hitchcock, film composer Bernard Herrmann. The story is about a woman named Julie Kohler (Jeanne Moreau) who seeks to track down the five men who killed her husband on their wedding day. She seeks revenge by seeking one of them out and methodically killing them with different methods. It wasn't critically favored and Truffaut eventually felt the same way about it agreeing with the critics, yet it has continually gained more recognition for being a decent experimental homage to the Master Of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock. It's a good movie that's worth watching if you're in the mood for a subtle thriller made by one of cinema's master filmmakers. 8/10.

It's also interesting to see because, although he denies that he's ever watched the film, Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films have a striking similarity to Truffaut's film as both are about a bride who seeks to avenge the murder of her newly-wedded husband by seeking out each of the killers in methodical ways.