Que la bête meure (1969)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Claude Chabrol

Writers:

Nicholas Blake (novel)
Claude Chabrol (dialogue)
(more)

Release Date:

20 October 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Crime | Thriller

Plot Keywords:

Family Relationships | Search | Hit And Run | Small Community | Father Son Relationship

Cast

Michel Duchaussoy	...	Charles Thenier
Caroline Cellier	...	Helene Lanson
Jean Yanne	...	Paul Decourt
Anouk Ferjac	...	Jeanne Decourt
Marc Di Napoli	...	Phillippe Decourt
Louise Chevalier	...	Madame Levenes
Guy Marly	...	Jacques Ferrand
Lorraine Rainer	...	Anna Ferrand
Dominique Zardi	...	Police inspector
Stéphane Di Napoli	...	Michel Thenier
Raymone	...	La mère de Paul
Michel Charrel	...	Le casseur
France Girard
Bernard Papineau
Robert Rondo	...	Le garagiste
Jacques Masson	...	Le fils du paysan
Georges Charrier	...	Le chauffeur de taxi
Maurice Pialat	...	Police Inspector
Jean-Louis Maury	...	Le paysan

Directed by
Claude Chabrol

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Nicholas Blake		novel "The Beast Must Die"
Claude Chabrol		dialogue
Claude Chabrol		screenplay
Paul Gégauff		dialogue
Paul Gégauff		screenplay

Produced by
André Génovès	....	producer

Original Music by
Pierre Jansen

Cinematography by
Jean Rabier

Film Editing by
Jacques Gaillard

Production Design by
Guy Littaye

Makeup Department
Louis Bonnemaison	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Georges Casati	....	production manager

Sound Department
Guy Chichignoud	....	sound engineer
Monique Fardoulis	....	sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Claude Zidi	....	camera operator

Music Department
André Girard	....	musical director
Dominique Zardi	....	composer: song "La Terre"

Production Companies

• Les Films de la Boétie
• Rizzoli Film

Distributors

• Allied Artists Pictures (1970) (USA) (subtitled)
• Galileo Medien AG (2006) (Germany) (DVD) (Claude Chabrol Classic Edition)
• Pathfinder Pictures

Also Known As:

Killer!
The Beast Must Die
This Man Must Die
Ucciderò un uomo (Italy)
Accidente sin huella (Spain) [es]
Das Biest muß sterben (West Germany) [de]
Na pethanei to ktinos (Greece) (festival title) [el]
Que la bestia muera (Argentina) [es]
Requiem para Um Desconhecido (Portugal) [pt]
Tämän miehen on kuoltava (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Sweden:11 | USA:GP | Argentina:13 | UK:15 (original rating) | UK:12 (DVD rating) (2005)

Filming Locations:

Brittany, France

Company:

Les Films de la Boétie

Movie Connections:

Featured in Le cinéma passe à table (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Vier ernste Gesänge

Multi-layered and intelligent revenge drama

Following a number of fairly mediocre efforts from the early to late sixties, Chabrol got right back on track with the excellent "Le Biches", and followed that film with "Que la bête meure", an intensely involving revenge drama with the emphasis on psychology and character over action and violence.

The film opens like any revenge thriller would (albeit probably better-shot and acted than most of them), with a child being killed in a hit and run and his father vowing to track down and kill the perpetrator. The tale slowly becomes more and more psychological, however, and ends up being a variation on a Greek tragedy, as others have noted. Chabrol is rarely content with following the expected routine (when he is his films can be dismal), and "Que la bête meure" is far from routine, as we end up spending more than an hour with the all the main characters in place and even together most of the time. The script is carefully written to avoid plot issues (outside of the contrived and silly first clue the main character gets, I can't think of any major issues I had with the script), and the dialogue is as deliberately orchestrated as Chabrol's direction is, building the suspense and drama gradually.

After the nearly continuous camera motion in "Les Biches", Chabrol takes a different approach to this film. It's less stylized and more natural, with the shot composition never feeling contrived as it sometimes did in Chabrol's immediately preceding effort, although there is some very good and very deliberate work around when we first meet the villain. Chabrol also uses close-ups to great effect, particularly in the scene late in the film with Paul and Charles on a sail boat.

What is striking about "Que la bête meure" is that while it deliberately builds suspense it also refuses to work as a thriller, and this is most clearly seen towards the end of the film when we get the standard twists but they're so subtle and low-key that one barely pays attention to them. The plot doesn't really matter here, the film is about much more, about the moral implications of revenge, about the nature of man, and it does well to apply these preoccupations to its characters so that we are never far removed from the emotions they are going through, in particular the main character Charles, played by Michel Duchaussoy.

After a string of disappointing features the last two years of the sixties saw two strong efforts from Claude Chabrol which helped keep him as relevant to cinema as he is. "Que la bête meure" is not a perfect film, and it may not even necessarily be a great film (although I think it qualifies), but it is engaging and enjoyable and far from empty. It leaves one thinking about it well after it has finished playing.

8.5/10