Le Crime du 3e étage
Sorbonne film studies Hitchcock expert Colette Courreau (Laetitia Casta, "Arbitrage") pulls her partner François Tarnowski (Gilles Lellouche, "Smoking Causes Coughing"), an author of thrillers, into an amateur investigation when she becomes convinced she's seen their neighbor, Yann Kerbec (Guillaume Gallienne, "Marie Antoinette"), murder his wife in "Le Crime du 3e étage."
Laura's Review: B
Writer/director Rémi Bezançon ("The First Day of the Rest of Your Life") takes "Rear Window" and runs with it in a film which works largely due to the impeccable comic timing of Gilles Lellouche. Many will be reminded of Woody Allen's "Manhattan Murder Mystery," but this one namechecks its Hitchcock references as well as its marital theme, Colette telling her class that Godard said Hitchcock 'was all about couples,' citing the wedding ring Grace Kelly finds in the murderer's apartment, foreshadowing Jimmy Stewart's commitment.
Here we are also plunged into François's literary world of the crime solving Marquis de la Rose, also depicted by Lellouche along with the Marquis' love Rebecca (Casta), François's writing reflecting much of what is happening in his own life (along with death cap mushrooms, French cinema, of late, obsessed with poisoning via fungi). The film actually opens here, leading one to believe we're in a period piece, but Bezancon uses its initial sword fight to foreshadow a climactic one in the present day.
Then there is a knock on the door and a very annoyed François opens it to the building's concierge Ida (Katayoon Latif), reminding her that she is only supposed to interrupt him for such emergencies as a nuclear attack. Ida informs him that the new neighbor across the street has sent everyone invitations to his play, something François regards with little more enthusiasm than a trip to the dentist, but which Colette wishes to attend. François is miserable when he realizes it is 'Hamlet,' conspiring with neighbors Sam (Matthias Jacquin) and Sophie Frémont (Bénédicte Choisnet) during intermission about sneaking out, but Colette not only deems it rude, but insists on visiting Yann to congratulate him when the three hour and forty-five minute play is over, despite François noting that the Fremonts never returned to their seats. And this is where the intrigue begins, the couple witnessing Yann violently signing with his wife Nathalie (Jenna Knafo), who is deaf.
This entire episode tells us a lot about this marriage, François complaining about everything ('the theater's in the suburbs!') while Colette is open to experience ('It's in the Left Bank'). There is no physical affection between the two, he seemingly sleeping on the couch for reasons left unstated. And when Colette thinks she sees Yann raise a heavy, decorative cat to strike his wife, Yann immediately shuts her down with a past incident where she thought a bomb was on a train. When he takes the 13th in his detective series to his editor (Marie-Christine Orry, "Caché"), although she says it is 'good,' she also thinks it's time to sex things up between the Marquis and Rebecca, leading to a painfully funny rewrite.
Natalie appears in the window of the apartment across the way, initially bursting Colette's bubble about her murder theory until she begins to suspect that Yann has substituted his mistress, the theater's barmaid Emma (Isabel Aimé González-Sola, "The Currents"), in a blond wig. She'd be able to sign because it was a requirement Natalie placed on all her employees at the theater she owns, which Colette believes Yann wishes to sell for 20 million Euros, the motive for her murder. François also begins to view his wife differently, especially after his deaf cousin Jean-Denis (Jérôme Le Rhun) 'translates' 'Natalie's' signing calling him a loser, Jean-Denis of the opinion that this woman is not deaf, her signing rudimentary. And when Yann appears to both threaten and hit on her, François suddenly remembers what a beauty Colette is, his demeanor suddenly more romantic and open to her suspicions. He'll begin to visit the Fremont's gadget shop, buying camera glasses and a high tech laser light for her investigation, amusingly dredging up their own suspicions about him.
Laurent Perez Del Mar composes a suitably Hitchcockian suspense score with violin, Bezançon throwing in Hitchcock's theme, 'Funeral March of a Marionette,' for a lively bicycle chase scene. There is also a black and white faux interview between Colette and Hitchcock (Jacques-Yves Dorges, "The Substance"), his narration heard as François is almost caught by Yann while searching his apartment for clues. We even get a Hitchcock 'cameo' in present day action.
And so the man who once moaned through the entirety of Yann's Hamlet will endure it for a third time, this time taking the stage himself for the dramatic climax after the couple endures a very close call. "Le Crime du 3e étage," titled "Bazaar" for the French Film Festival, is a sheer delight, a charmer and perfect opener for a festival of French cinema.
Robin's Review: B
"Le Crime du 3e étage" does not yet have a U.S. distributor. It is the opening night film of the 30th edition of the Boston French Film Festival at the Museum of Fine Arts.
