''Masks'' (french: Masques) is a 1987 French mystery

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

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 a ...

. It was entered into the

37th Berlin International Film Festival The 37th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 20 February to 3 March 1987. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Soviet Union film ''Tema'' directed by Gleb Panfilov. The retrospective was in honour of Armenian-American film and ...

Plot

Talent show host Christian Legagneur hires a young reporter, Roland Wolf, to write his biography. However, Wolf has ulterior motives - he is also investigating his sister's disappearance.

Cast

Philippe Noiret Philippe Noiret (; 1 October 1930 – 23 November 2006) was a French film actor. Life and career Noiret was born in Lille, France, the son of Lucy (Heirman) and Pierre Noiret, a clothing company representative. He was an indifferent student an ...

as Christian Legagneur *

Robin Renucci Robin Renucci (born 11 July 1956, in Le Creusot, Saône-et-Loire) is a French film and television actor and film director. Acting filmography * '' Eaux profondes'' (1981) : ''Ralph'' * ''Les Misérables'' (1982) : ''Courfeyrac'' * ''Invitatio ...

as Roland Wolf *

Bernadette Lafont Bernadette Lafont (28 October 1938 – 25 July 2013) was a French actress who appeared in more than 120 feature films. She has been considered "the face of French New Wave". In 1999 she told ''The New York Times'' her work was "the motor of my e ...

as Patricia, La masseuse / The masseuse *

Monique Chaumette Monique Chaumette (born 4 April 1927) is a French actress. She appeared in more than forty films since 1958. She was married to Philippe Noiret from 1962 until his death in 2006. Selected filmography References External links * {{DEFAU ...

as Colette, la secrétaire / The secretary *

Anne Brochet Anne Brochet (born 22 November 1966) is a French actress. Career Brochet has appeared in films such as ''Cyrano de Bergerac'', '' Le temps des porte-plumes'', '' 30 ans'', '' Une journée de merde!'' and '' Tous les matins du monde''. She has als ...

as Catherine * Roger Dumas as Manu * Pierre-François Dumeniaud as Max * Pierre Nougaro as Gustave * Renée Dennsy as Émilie * Yvonne Décade as Antoinette *

Blanche Ariel Blanche may refer to: People *Blanche (singer), stage name of Belgian singer and songwriter Ellie Delvaux * Blanche (given name) *Blanche (surname) Places Australia * Blanche Harbor (South Australia), a bay on the east coast of Eyre Peninsula ** ...

as Rosette * René Marjac as Maurice * Paul Vally as Henry * Denise Pezzani as Mme Lemonier

Reception

The film received mixed reviews. ''Time Out'' said "Chabrol frames the verbal sparring with characteristic precision, but the subtle plot suffers from a surfeit of politesse and a dearth of red-blooded passion." ''The New York Times'' called it "something practically unheard of in the vast Chabrol filmography: a thriller that satisfies the audience's expectations of a thriller, even including the childlike hope that good will be rewarded and evil punished", and added "although the suspense is skillfully engineered, you can't help feeling Mr. Chabrol's boredom with it."

Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for '' The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and h ...

said it was "good, serviceable, quasi-Hitchcockian fun", but not especially memorable. Craig Williams on the BFI site was more positive: "The idea of the bourgeois mask concealing murderous impulses is prevalent throughout the director’s work, but there’s a streak of self-awareness in ''Masques''... that marks this as one of his best films of the 80s."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Masks 1987 films 1980s crime thriller films French crime thriller films 1980s French-language films Films directed by Claude Chabrol Films about entertainers Films set in country houses Films about journalists French satirical films 1987 comedy films 1980s French films