The Bride Wore Black

Rating:
Summary: Completely Successful Truffaut Film
Review: This is one of Truffaut's very best films. Truffaut has been dead for awhile now but for several decades, ending in the 1980s, he was probably the most popular French director for American moviegoers newly discovering French film. One thing that made him so accessible to Americans was that he started out as a movie reviewer and also wrote a definitive book on the work of Alfred Hitchcock. Truffaut understood what we Americans were drawn to at the movies but could also make it a new experience for us by making it French. This movie is an homage to Hitchcock's work yet also distinctly Truffaut's movie. The marvelous Jeanne Moreau plays the lead, a woman hell bent on revenging her husband's murder. She systematically goes after and murders each man who was in any way involved in gunning her husband down on their wedding day. She of course has to get rather close to each man in question to pull this off and she is wonderfully inventive in her methods. Perhaps her best "sendoff" is saved for last though. Be ready for a great night at the movies with this one as it holds up to the very best of Hitchcock's work.

Rating:
Summary: Completely Successful Truffaut Film
Review: This is one of Truffaut's very best films. Truffaut has been dead for awhile now but for several decades, ending in the 1980s, he was probably the most popular French director for American moviegoers newly discovering French film. One thing that made him so accessible to Americans was that he started out as a movie reviewer and also wrote a definitive book on the work of Alfred Hitchcock. Truffaut understood what we Americans were drawn to at the movies but could also make it a new experience for us by making it French. This movie is an homage to Hitchcock's work yet also distinctly Truffaut's movie. The marvelous Jeanne Moreau plays the lead, a woman hell bent on revenging her husband's murder. She systematically goes after and murders each man who was in any way involved in gunning her husband down on their wedding day. She of course has to get rather close to each man in question to pull this off and she is wonderfully inventive in her methods. Perhaps her best "sendoff" is saved for last though. Be ready for a great night at the movies with this one as it holds up to the very best of Hitchcock's work.

Rating:
Summary: look no further . . .
Review: to be savored, noticed in detail, not over-analyzed; it gives new meaning to a schoolteacher; at the least, it is must-see therapy for all animal rights' advocates, especially the militant type who want to disarm all people who engage in the sport of game hunting. Seriously. How it missed the Truffaut Top Ten list is a tribute perhaps to the gun lobby. Not seriously but consider what happens when you "innocently" mix guns and alcohol? Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: stunning film by my fave director
Review: what i really want to say (and i can't find anywhere else to write this comment) is that i would love to buy this videotape but i live in new zealand where we only have the PAL system. if you're a truly international outfit why don't you supply this too. P L E A S E T R Y!!

Rating:
Summary: Truffaut's homage made even Hitch proud.
Review: When THE BRIDE WORE BLACK first came out to theaters Hitchcock went out to see it for himself. He had been good friends with Truffaut already for a while and Truffaut had been an admirer of his for a long time. After Hitch saw it he told Truffaut what he thought. His only thought was that in one of the murder scenes a pillow should have been put under the head of one of the men who was dying. But other than that he gave his seal of approval and so do i. This is one of the best homages to Hitchcock that i have ever seen. The story is adapted from a novel by William Irish and it is about a woman named Julie Kohler (Jeanne Moreau- Jules and Jim, Viva Maria!) who's husband is shot and killed on her wedding day. After living for a long time in deep depression she decides to track down the five men who killed her husband (accidentally) and kill them one by one. She uses her charms to get to them and soon after she kills them. The movie is not unbearably suspenseful but it is potent enough so that you wonder what will happen next. The reason for it not being so suspenseful is that you can guess more or less what will happen but what does keep it suspenseful and interesting is that we don't know how these situations will turn out. Truffaut's direction keeps the movie flowing along at a constant pace and he uses wardrobe to convey how Julie is feeling by having her wear black very often and if she does wear any other color it is only white. Jeanne Moreau gives a subtle and sympathetic performance in a role in which she could have gone over the top but wisely chose not to. We sympathize with her even as she is commiting these horrible crimes because Truffaut has us understand her pain but never fully. The psychological aspect which could have been exlpored more in this movie is never fully explored but it's not unforgiveable since the movie is not really about that. It's more about Julie's experience of trying to get her revenge. The script is solid as well and the movie is accompanied by a beautiful score by Bernard Herrmann who was Hitchcock's frequent collaborator and the score is reminiscent of Hitchcock's VERTIGO and MARNIE. This is very definatley one of the best homages to Hitchcock and also one of the best in Truffaut's legacy of films.

Rating:
Summary: Revenge can be fun!
Review: While lacking the intellectual and emotional depth of most of Truffaut's work, *Bride* is a classic on its own terms--a darkly comic Hitchcock tribute/parody and revenge epic of nearly mythic proportions. Jeanne Moreau is brilliant as the gorgeous and unstoppable avenger who neatly works her way down the list of men (a playboy, a neurotic loser, a sleazy politician, a gangster and an artist) responsible for her husband's tragic/comic demise on the cathedral steps years before. Each method of murder is more creative and outlandish than the last and the narrative is peppered with clever little references like one of the victims living on "Nemesis St." and the killer taking a job in an art studio posing as Diana the Huntress.