''Just Before Nightfall'' () is a 1971 French

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by

Claude Chabrol Claude Henri Jean Chabrol (; 24 June 1930 – 12 September 2010) was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave (''nouvelle vague'') group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues an ...

and starring Stéphane Audran and

Michel Bouquet Michel François Pierre Bouquet (6 November 1925 – 13 April 2022) was a French stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1947 to 2020. He won the Best Actor European Film Award for '' Toto the Hero'' in 1991 and two Best ...

. Based on the 1951 novel ''The Thin Line'' by Edward Atiyah, it follows a married businessman who, after killing his mistress, tries to ease his conscience by confessing to his wife and the victim's husband.

Plot

Charles Masson, a married advertising executive and father of two children, has an affair with Laura, the wife of his best friend François, an architect. During one of their sadomasochistic sex games, Charles strangles Laura. While the police does not suspect him, Charles' conscience drives him to confess his crime first to his wife Hélène and later to François. Both ask him not to turn himself over to the authorities, as this would not bring Laura back to life and only destroy his family. Charles becomes gradually convinced that Laura's death was not an accident but his intention, as he felt humiliated by her. Unable to stand the strain any longer, Charles announces to Hélène that he will go to the police the next morning to make a confession. Hélène, preparing Charles' sleep medicine, deliberately gives him an overdose. His death is classified as a suicide. Some time later, Hélène sits at the beach with her children and her mother-in-law, who remarks that the children seem to get over their father's death.

Cast

* Michel Bouquet as Charles Masson * Stéphane Audran as Hélène Masson * François Périer as François Tellier *

Jean Carmet Jean Carmet (; 25 April 1920 – 20 April 1994) was a French actor. Life and career Jean Carmet began working on stage and then in film in the early 1940s becoming a very popular comedic actor in his native country. He is best known internat ...

as Jeannot * Henri Attal as Cavanna * Dominique Zardi as Prince *

Clelia Matania Clelia Matania (28 March 1918 – 14 October 1981) was an Italian film and voice actress. Life and career Born in London, the daughter of the Capri-born naturalized Briton painter Fortunino Matania (best known as Saturnino), Matania attended ...

as Charles' mother * Celia as Jacqueline * Marina Ninchi as Gina Mallardi * Anna Douking as Laura Tellier * Michel Duchaussoy as Man at burial (uncredited)

Reception

''Just Before Nightfall'' met with positive reviews by contemporary American critics. In his 1976 review for the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'',

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

called the film "one of Chabrol's best films on his favorite theme", whose "last half-hour provides a series of moral reverses that leaves us, too, puzzled about what's right and what's wrong".

Jacoba Atlas Jacoba Atlas is an American executive producer in television, also publishing as a journalist, music critic, novelist, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. She won a Peabody Award, an Emmy Award and a CableACE Award for ''Survivors of the Holo ...

of the ''

Los Angeles Free Press The ''Los Angeles Free Press'', also called the "''Freep''", is often cited as the first, and certainly was the largest, of the underground newspapers of the 1960s. The ''Freep'' was founded in 1964 by Art Kunkin, who served as its publisher un ...

'' titled Chabrol "a master at showing the macabre murkiness that lies just below the surface of ordinary lives", who, with this film, has made "the definitive statement about the nightmare quality of the cowardly conscience of us all".

David Pirie David Pirie is a British screenwriter, film producer, film critic, and novelist. As a screenwriter, he is known for his noirish original thrillers, classic adaptations and period gothic pieces. In 1998, he was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Dram ...

, writing for the British Time Out magazine, thought equally positive of the film, which he saw as a "tortuous, entertaining study of murder and the expiation of guilt" with "meticulous" direction, acting and script. While

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' objected that the film "eventually becomes too schematic", he acknowledged that "the scheme has so many ambiguous twists and turns that the film continues to provoke the memory long after one has left the theater", resulting in "a comedy of a high, intelligent and dark order". "On the scale of recent Chabrol films, ''Juste Avant La Nuit'' is somewhere below ''La Femme Infidele'' and ''Le Boucher'' but above ''La Rupture''."

Awards

BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Best Actress in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding leading performan ...

for Stéphane Audran for ''Just Before Nightfall'' and ''

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie ''The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie'' () is a 1972 surrealist satirical black comedy film directed by Luis Buñuel, who wrote the screenplay in collaboration with Jean-Claude Carrière. The narrative concerns a group of French bourgeoisie an ...

References

External links