Monsieur Hire (1989)

The Worst Film Ever

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

a film about solitude, vulnerability . delicate, precise, impressive. Brahms, Simenon and perfect cast. and a rare science of nuances use. an adaptation. who can be poem or parable or warning. or just pure testimony. about image and its root, about the other as part of yourself, about refuge and love. extraordinary in this case is the brilliant measure. the delicacy of images, the role of puzzle pieces of events, the confession as silence and the gestures as speeches. a movie who can becomes an experience for viewer. not only artistic one - that is, certainly, its first virtue - but a kind of new perception about the other and about yourself, about architecture of relationship and about the search of truth price. beautiful and deeply good.

A young woman discovers that she's being watched by a Peeping Tom, an unsocial, unattractive, and creepy neighbor. Of course, this being a French film, she reacts by coming on to him. Yeah, right. The script is rather amateurish, particularly in the presentation of a subplot involving a murder investigation. Apparently French citizens have few rights when it comes to protection from police harassment. The ending is contrived, a clumsy attempt to tie everything together. Blanc is somewhat reminiscent of Woody Allen except that he's deadly serious and angry with the world. Bonnaire is pretty and does pretty well as the victim-turned-seducer.

This handsome psychological mystery might have been remarkable if only it had:A) some plausible psychology, andB) a worthwhile mystery.Instead, all it offers is a lot of self-conscious style and a compelling performance by Michel Blanc, playing a pathologically anti-social tailor (and murder suspect) who develops a voyeuristic obsession with Sandrine Bonnaire. The story (loosely based on a George Simenon novel) could have presented an intriguing game between the observer and the observed, but because the guilty party is identified too soon the final resolution is more sensible than surprising. The film, by design, is even more cool and detached than its title character, setting an effective mood with its claustrophobic wide-screen photography, but the lack of any adequate background puts all the action in a (very attractive) void. In the end it amounts to little more than a big tease with no real payoff: the climactic, final 15 minutes are no more special than the first 73.

Monsieur Hire (1989)A simple movie with the protagonist and the viewer both made to be voyeurs. There is some pathos to the lonely man with some secret talents (like bowling) and some unbridled and unelaborated interests (staring at a woman through her open blinds as she dresses).But the movie suggests some true stupidity and/or willingness on the woman's part. She does not seem to be an exhibitionist, and yet she leaves herself exposed. At one point she is shocked to see the man watching. But then she gets involved with him. A boyfriend has a separate intrigue at work which complicates matters, and this isn't very well developed. And finally there is tragedy, and a kind of lyrical/awkward final scene.Director Patrice Leconte has a curiously unsensational way of treating some of these very private subjects. You want to like his films very much. They have small casts and try to deal with psychology instead of just sensation and plot. A better entry into his style might be "Intimate Strangers" from 2004, also starring Sandrine Bonnaire.You can like the intentions here, and like the mood, and maybe forgive yourself for watching the man watch the woman (that is, watch the woman yourself), but it drags as if this is enough. And it's not. And if you're looking for salacious, don't get the wrong idea. It's pretty clean voyeurism. Disappointing.