Julie Kohler is prevented from suicide by her mother. She leaves the town. She will track down, charm and kill five men who do not know her. What is her goal? What is her purpose?Julie Kohler is prevented from suicide by her mother. She leaves the town. She will track down, charm and kill five men who do not know her. What is her goal? What is her purpose?Julie Kohler is prevented from suicide by her mother. She leaves the town. She will track down, charm and kill five men who do not know her. What is her goal? What is her purpose?
- Awards
- 1 win & 5 nominations
- Rene Morane
- (as Michel Lonsdale)
- Le juge d'instruction
- (as Gilles Queant)
- Le policier
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis film is François Truffaut's homage to Alfred Hitchcock, made shortly after Truffaut had published a book of extensive interviews with Hitchcock. As part of his homage, Truffaut chose a novel written by Cornell Woolrich, on whose story Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954) was based, and even chose long-time Hitchcock collaborator Bernard Herrmann to compose the score.
- GoofsWhen Julie goes to Fergus's studio the second time to model, he gives her a special bracelet to wear (designed by Calder). But seconds before, when she is in the bathroom changing, she is clearly already wearing the bracelet.
- Quotes
Coral: Permit me to make an impossible wish?
Julie Kohler: Why impossible?
Coral: Because I'm a rather pessimist.
Julie Kohler: I've heard it said: "There are no optimists or pessimists. There are only happy idiots or unhappy ones".
Coral: [smiling] Yes, well. I'm an unhappy idiot then.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Introduction to Truffaut Season (1972)
I was genuinely quite surprised by the use of humour here. I expected from the plot-outline that the film would be incredibly dour and austere but that really isn't the case; with the mixture of lurid, almost B-movie style subject matter, revenge and farce managing to come together fairly well for the most part, as Truffaut tinkers with the expected codes and conventions of the thriller genre in much the same way that Antonioni did with the much superior masterpiece Blowup (1966). Like Blowup, the film can be seen as something of an "anti-thriller", or a film that sets up a number of potentially electrifying Hitchcockian like set pieces and then continually thwarts them - or indeed, forgets about them completely - as the mechanics of the plot push us further and further away from the more recognisable aspects of the story at hand. Whenever we imagine that a scene will play out to our usual expectations, with Hermann's orchestrations and the inventive camera work of Godard's regular cinematographer Raoul Coutard setting the scene, something else happens that throws the film completely off course. For example, in one particular scene, in which our central character stalks one of her victims through the junkyard where he works, we get Truffaut setting up a series of shots that continually teases us with the slow-build of the sequence, the cut-away to the gun and the impending moment before the expected gunshot and then - unexpectedly - the police arrive and arrest the man before any retribution can be taken.
This idea of setting up something potentially very thrilling and exciting, only to then subvert it by way of knowing farce and arch genre references is used throughout The Bride Wore Black, creating an odd juxtaposition between light comedy and cold-blooded murder that probably won't be to all tastes. Apparently the critics of the time hated it, and indeed, Truffaut himself would denounce the film as one of his worst just a few years later, perhaps as a reaction to the knowing tone and the flippant games being played with the more recognisable cinematic conventions. Obviously, Truffaut was a huge fan of Hitchcock, and indeed, one of the first critics to really look at his films within a serious historical context, but all the same, the satirical sideswipes at Hitchcock's work and the evidence of homage is often quite cutting and not always as complimentary as we might expect. The final shot for example, which is indeed very clever and filled with ideas of visual wit, is at the same time blunt to the point of almost going out of its way to lampoon the ending of some of Hitchcock's earlier films like Saboteur (1942). Then we have the ultimate revelation of the event that drove the character to seek revenge and the almost broadly comical rendering of the scene and the complete disregard for any kind of logic and reason.
Was the reason that Truffaut denounced the film simply because he felt it was uncomplimentary, almost mocking of Hitchcock's work, or did he simply feel that the games within the narrative and the combination of murder and farce were simply unsuccessful on this particular project? Regardless, the film succeeds on an entirely perverse level, as we watch Jeanne Moreau step into the role of the iconic "Hitchcock blonde" and plot bloody revenge on those that have wronged her. Some have drawn comparisons with Tarantino's epic Kill Bill (2003-2004), which are apt given the basic outline of the plot and certain elements of the iconography, though Tarantino claims to be unfamiliar with the film in question. Although the broader ramifications of the narrative remain vague and enigmatic even through to the end, the fun of The Bride Wore Black is not in its characters or storytelling capabilities, but in the gleeful subversion of the iconography of the Hollywood thriller by way of the Nouvelle Vague and of course, those constant allusions to Hitchcock and his work.
- ThreeSadTigers
- Apr 28, 2008
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Nevesta je bila v črnini
- Filming locations
- Eglise Saint-Lambert de Vaugirard, Paris 15, Paris, France(wedding church)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $747,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $45,075
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $11,206
- Apr 25, 1999
- Gross worldwide
- $45,263
- Runtime1 hour 47 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1