This Man Must Die

The DVD was packaged well and arrived in perfect condition. Played well.

Early on in this Claude Chabrol film someone is murdered. For those of us who watch Chabrol's films that is not a surprise. What is a surprise however is who and why they die. The victim was a young boy and his father, Charles (Michel Duchaussoy, "The Unfaithful Wife", "Nada") has vowed to find the person responsible and kill them. At this point the film turns into a maze as Charles tries to find the killer. Soon events lead him to Helene (Caroline Cellier) who was with the killer at the time of the accident. Charles pretends to be in love with Helene so she will lead him to Paul (Jean Yanne). "This Man Must Die" does have some shortcomings. I thought it was just too wild a coincident that Charles just happens to run into a man who knows the killer. He actually remembers the date when he meet him. Though of course I understand without a scene like this how would the film get from point "A" to "B"? I also found the music too forceful at times. It expresses more than there needs to be expressed. And a scene in which Charles and Helene get into a fight left me wondering why does she stay with him? But these grips simply do not compare to the film's over effect. Claude Chabrol is one of my favorite directors. Film after film I found myself entertained. I love watching new movies by him. In "This Man Must Die" Chabrol demonstrates how he is capable of handling such material. He creates tension and then releases it only to slowly build it up again in the following shot. I also liked the film's small touches. In a scene where Charles goes to meet Helene's family he is shown is room and on the wall there is a picture of a naked woman next to a cross. What a contradiction I thought. What is Chabrol trying to tell us. Then I thought isn't Charles a bit of a contradiction himself? Here he is meet this woman's family while she thinks he loves her but he is actually using her to find his son's killer. And what about Paul. After we see the way he treats his wife and son we start to think maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea if Charles did kill him. We doubt anyone, besides his mother, would really miss him. He's such a mean spirited person. And that's putting it mildly. Over all though I think "This Man Must Die" is one of Chabrol's best. It was made at a time when Chabrol was gaining popularity. Already under his belt were such titles as "The Unfaithful Wife", "Les Biches" and "Le Beau Serge". And this movie ranks up with those films. Here is a wonderful film for people to start their Chabrol collection with. Bottom-line: Very entertaining Claude Chabrol film that should please those who are not familiar with the director's work. Easily ranks among his finest films.

I saw this film a long time ago in college, and it stayed with me since then. Recently, I became interested in Claude Chabrol's films again, and I started watching all of them. This one isn't available on Netflix, so I ordered it from Amazon, and I'm not sorry I did.The story concerns a man whose son is killed in a hit-and-run accident. Consumed with the desire for revenge, he tracks down the killer and decides he will take this man's life. You think it would be easy; it turns out the man is a horrible "beast" (in French the title is "Que le bete meure": The Beast Must Die, based on a Brahms lieder, "The Beast must die and so must the man") and he bullies, dominates, controls and humiliates everyone in his life. However, things do not go as planned. Chabrol keeps you guessing up to the end and beyond. It's a great film in that it leaves you questioning what happened, and the loose ends are not tied up very neatly, but rather, as in life, things remain unresolved. My roommate, her boyfriend and I had quite a time trying to figure out exactly what happened. We each had our own theories. Sean Penn remade the film, as "The Crossing Guard."

One of Chabrol's most intriguing and disturbing films, "This Man" is a melodramatic suspense tale in the mold of Hitchcock and Lang, yet quieter and more pensive. Duchaussoy is first rate playing the devastated father who's bent on exacting justice from his son's killer, no matter how far afield it leads him, or how tangled the situation becomes. Yanne also gives a nuanced performance as his despicable yet complex antagonist, and Cellier is excellent, too, as a witness with secrets of her own. Chabrol shows great restraint in concocting this slow-burning thriller, keeping you guessing until the very end. For an engrossing, nuanced whodunit, find "This Man."

THIS MAN MUST DIE (Que la Bête Meure) is a movie written and directed by French director Claude Chabrol in 1969. The film is about the revenge of a father looking for the hit-and-run driver who's killed his only son.It's a pleasure to rediscover these Claude Chabrol movies of the late sixties-early seventies period. Often despised by those who swear only by the name of François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard when speaking of the french New Wave, Claude Chabrol deserves our utmost respect. Each of his films is the acid description of a slice, in the Balzacian meaning of the word, of the french society of his time.Chabrol is an admirable storyteller with a caustic and perceptive mind. His actors and actresses don't have much to say, their behaviours and silences replacing for the best unnecessary lines of dialogs.A DVD zone "tell me a story".