From Deseret News archives:
La Maison Assassinee (The Murdered House)
Film review
It's a dark and stormy night in a small French village, circa 1896, when three men apparently break into a roadside inn and slaughter the entire family, save a 3-week-old boy in his cradle.
This pre-credits sequence in "La Maison Assassinee," or, "The Murdered House," which is mercifully off-camera, is the set-up. After the credits, the story picks up some 24 years later as a stranger wanders into town yep, you guessed it, the surviving baby all grown up.
Seraphin Monge is a World War I veteran now, already carrying more than his share of emotional scars, when he returns to his birthplace to find out the truth about his family's death.
But it's going to be neither easy nor pleasant, as most of the townsfolk are clearly not happy to see him. And it probably doesn't help that Seraphin is a bit dour and curt.
When he gets a job as a local road repairman, he becomes friendly with the old man he works with, and two young women in the village begin to pursue him romantically. And later he is befriended by another outcast. But no one else in town wants anything to do with him and the fathers of the two young women forbid their daughters to see him . . . not that it stops them.
When he's not working, Seraphin spends his time taking out his frustrations on the house where his family was murdered, which has been abandoned all these years and is, naturally, considered to be haunted. He burns all the furniture and begins knocking down the walls.
Eventually, the film becomes a bona fide murder mystery, as Seraphin comes to believe that three foreign railroad workers who were executed for the killings were actually innocent. And when Seraphin finds evidence that three prominent local citizens had motives, it lends impetus to his personal investigation, leading him to plot revenge.
None of this is handled in the way you might expect, however. "The Murdered House" is far from your typical murder-and-revenge tale and not just because of the period setting. Director/co-writer Georges Lautner has woven a complicated tale, with many characters and lots of subplots, but somehow manages to keep the film from ever seeming overly complex.
Although there are plenty of surprises, more intriguing than the mystery itself are the characters (portrayed by an excellent cast), a wide variety of types, any number of whom might be able to fill out an entire movie themselves. The real balancing act here is keeping the audience interested in each of them, a job Lautner handles very well.
"The Murdered House" though unrated, would doubtless get an R for a sex scene; there is also some violence, a nude scene and a couple of profanities.
Comments
Cast: Patrick Bruel, Anne Brochet.
Find a Movie Theater
- Aluminum cans may pose risk 6:59 p.m.
- Cougars going back to Vegas 6:43 p.m.
- Caroling tips 6:34 p.m.
- Caroling history 6:34 p.m.
- Missing your fancy crystal plate? 6:34 p.m.
- Celebrate the season by caroling 6:34 p.m.
- Shaving dad sparks debate 6:34 p.m.
- Get help with IDs in old photos 6:34 p.m.
- Carols are endless delight 6:34 p.m.
- 'Men of a Certain Age' grows on you 6:34 p.m.
- Y., U. to learn bowl destinations
- BYU and Utah's bowl games
- BYU professor killed in crash
- The forgotten ship: USS Utah
- Branch president without a congregation
- Utahns want health care reform bills
- BYU basketball: Cougars crush Dons
- Kurt Bestor: Joy for the world
- Tiger's SUV, personal life are a wreck
- Jazz upset by Wolves
- Why is Y. ignoring spew of hatred?
314 - Letters: Liberal because LDS
255 - Y. profs: Beck not all-knowing
211 - Hate not limited to 1 in-state rivalry
189 - Aggies shoot past Cougars
179 - N.Y. Senate rejects gay marriage
130 - George lost in rivalry hatefest
113 - Unbeaten BYU takes trip to Logan
105 - Harpring's NBA career is over
95 - Ed Smart 'appalled' at testimony
94
the BSC is so scared of a Utah over alabama repeat scenario they are not...
I am a Boise fan, but TCU will kill them. TCU can beat Alabama and Texas....
I have always enjoyed Linda Ellerbee's articles and newscasts. She is down to...
Despite their high rankings and undefeated records, TCU over BSU, or BSU over...
oklahoma top 25? are they even bowl eligible?
Is it me or did the BCS games pick the worst match-ups possible! Who wants...
BYU 21 OSU 27
B. you are right they won't be 15 - they will either move up or down after...
TX looked terrible vs NE. NE gave it to them as they kicked off out of...
I'm excited for this one! Beat the Bears!




You can be the first to comment on this story.