The Cry of the Owl

Rating:
Summary: Thanatos, nocturne in e, night symphony
Review: Chabrol is the French master of suspense. His most succesful films are the ones in which he extends the bounds(though not too far) of the tried and true Hitchcockian formula. La Femme Infidele(68) and Le Boucher(69) as well as La Ceremonie(97) are considered masterpieces. He also has several films that are near masterpieces. But as a director who directs one film a year he also has made a lot of forgettable pictures as well. Cry of the Owl is not a masterpiece but it is one of Chabrols more memorable efforts. Few pictures have been more aptly and evocatively titled. The lead character is a moribund architect with a sadistic ex-wife who paints birds of prey. And in his spare time he spies on a chosen prey of his own, a lovely and innocent looking young woman. But she too, once met, proves equally moribund. The story is stark and each new character met presents yet another twist or turn, (or twisted turn). It is a long dark tunnel of a movie and there is little hope offered that there will be any coming out the other side. Some of Chabrols best work is dark but in his best films there are moments of comic relief as in the very funny outdoor love scenes in his under rated Wedding in Blood(73). Cry of the Owl is a darkly hued ode of a movie which is very good at what it does. The actors are not particularly exciting just competent and the locales are rather unextraordinary but it is a well executed and rare, very rare, kind of movie that presents its dark vision with no apologies or compromises for mere entertainments sake. Chabrol loyalists will be glad to have this and Highsmith readers will too but not many more will really want to go here.
Perhaps the only major flaw is that with so many dark chords being struck one begins to become tone deaf by movies end. The dark tones would stand out more if there were something offered in contrast. There is nothing so much as a kiss in this movie. A voyeur movie that is not sensual nor erotic. Bold and haunting. Creepy and cold. Chabrol perhaps has strayed even further than usual from his Hitchcockian formula for success and trespassed into a not easily defined genre between psychological mystery and supernatural thriller. His best of the eighties, but then the eighties was not Chabrols best decade.

Rating:
Summary: UH OH, PEEPING TOM MEETS HIS FANTASY
Review: Claude Chabrol's long unavailable 1987 psychological thriller "THE CRY OF THE OWL" or "Le Cri du Hibou" has been restored by All Day Entertainment in a stunning letterbox transfer from the pristine 35mm masters. This jewel of deception and romance from France's master of suspense centers on the unexpected relationship between a peeping tom and the subject of his fantasy. It's really unfair to say anything more about the plot except that while watching this giddy, unconventional movie you soon realize it's notgoing where you thought. Suffice it to say that when four highly unstable people merge in a love triangle, someone better cherck his math fast because 4 into three won't go. Unanimously praised by critics and audiences, winner of one French Academy Award and nominated for another, this is one to own.

Rating:
Summary: UH OH, PEEPING TOM MEETS HIS FANTASY
Review: Claude Chabrol's long unavailable 1987 psychological thriller "THE CRY OF THE OWL" or "Le Cri du Hibou" has been restored by All Day Entertainment in a stunning letterbox transfer from the pristine 35mm masters. This jewel of deception and romance from France's master of suspense centers on the unexpected relationship between a peeping tom and the subject of his fantasy. It's really unfair to say anything more about the plot except that while watching this giddy, unconventional movie you soon realize it's notgoing where you thought. Suffice it to say that when four highly unstable people merge in a love triangle, someone better cherck his math fast because 4 into three won't go. Unanimously praised by critics and audiences, winner of one French Academy Award and nominated for another, this is one to own.

Rating:
Summary: The best Highsmith adaptation?
Review: It is truly amazing how many superb films have been made from Patricia Highsmith's novels, but most of them alter her distinctly unsettling universe in ways that make them no longer Highsmith adaptations, but something else -- perhaps better, but not the same. This film, however, perfectly captures that grim and usually merciless world.

'The Cry of the Owl' is also one of the most efficient suspense movies I have seen. Perhaps because (despite what I said above) I had not read this particular novel, I found it almost unbearable to watch the events unfold. The suspense is on two levels. First, most conventionally, we care about what happens to the 'hero' and he is in quite a fix. Second, we never really know how the film is going to develop. It has a bit of the flavor of the recent 'A Simple Plan,' in which things never quite work out as expected, but I think it is considerably better. In particular, whereas 'A Simple Plan' pretty much settled down to a conventional plotline about half way through, 'The Cry of the Owl' continues to keep us off balance.

The new DVD is very nice. There is a very interesting and informative commentary, and the quality of the picture and sound is very good. I will give one piece of consumer advice: I originally (tried) to watch the film on my laptop and found the image too dark to watch in comfort. However, when I played it on a television it looked really good, and the high rating to the picture given by other reviewers was well justified. I cannot explain the discrepancy between the two media, but just in case you have a problem like mine, try using the TV.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant psychological thriller
Review: Patricia Highsmith is known for her intelligent thrillers--chief among them The Talented Mr. Ripley (filmed twice)--and this film is no exception. Based on Highsmith's novel of the same name and directed by the inestimable Claude Chabrol, this becomes increasingly disturbing as it progresses until, at the end, we are chilled to the bone.

The story of Robert Forestier, a man who initially seems to have the minor vice of peeping (minor because he does not practice this when his "victim" is nude, but clothed), it becomes darker as we find out that the object of his scrutiny, Juliette, is herself skewed, although in a dramatically different way. And that Robert's ex-wife has her own unusual predilections. As does Juliette's boyfriend Paul.

Not only that, but there is something far more disturbing about Robert than his peeping, and that should not be revealed here. Is he a murderer? No. Let's just say it does have something to do with death, however. The intricate and intelligent interplay of the four main characters give this film an unusually powerful structure and tone.

Made in 1987, it has rarely been equalled and is absolutely worth owning. Without question, it's one of Chabrol's best films, matched in recent years only by his filming of another crime novel written by a British woman (Ruth Rendell), La Ceremonie.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant psychological thriller
Review: Patricia Highsmith is known for her intelligent thrillers--chief among them The Talented Mr. Ripley (filmed twice)--and this film is no exception. Based on Highsmith's novel of the same name and directed by the inestimable Claude Chabrol, this becomes increasingly disturbing as it progresses until, at the end, we are chilled to the bone.

The story of Robert Forestier, a man who initially seems to have the minor vice of peeping (minor because he does not practice this when his "victim" is nude, but clothed), it becomes darker as we find out that the object of his scrutiny, Juliette, is herself skewed, although in a dramatically different way. And that Robert's ex-wife has her own unusual predilections. As does Juliette's boyfriend Paul.

Not only that, but there is something far more disturbing about Robert than his peeping, and that should not be revealed here. Is he a murderer? No. Let's just say it does have something to do with death, however. The intricate and intelligent interplay of the four main characters give this film an unusually powerful structure and tone.

Made in 1987, it has rarely been equalled and is absolutely worth owning. Without question, it's one of Chabrol's best films, matched in recent years only by his filming of another crime novel written by a British woman (Ruth Rendell), La Ceremonie.

Rating:
Summary: Decent Movie Poor Copy
Review: The quality of the transfer of this movie onto DVD is passable but disappointing. There is no wide screen, it has poor contrast and looks more like a well used video. If this is the only copy available then fair enough - publish it this way, but you should be warned that the movie is nothing to look at, and I suspect that it does not do full justice to the original. Having said this, it is an entertaining movie with plenty of plot twists. Personally I found it more humorous than suspenseful. Unusually, for a thriller there is not graphic violence until the last scene and likewise no nudity so it's quite tame by modern standards. The psychological impact of the movie is kind of watered down by the fact that the lead character is equally as disturbed as most of the people stalking him and hence they all seem to deserve each other. Overall this is a well-acted and quite humorous movie that builds up to a better second half. Not sure it is worth buying a DVD of this picture quality though unless you really know that you want it.