Death in a French Garden [Pèril en la Demeure] **** (1985, Anémone, Richard Bohringer, Nicole Garcia, Christophe Malavoy, Michel Piccoli, Anaïs Jeanneret) – Classic Movie Review 11,527

Michel Deville’s 1985 heady brew of a French crime mystery thriller film Death in a French Garden [Pèril en la Demeure] stars Anémone, Richard Bohringer, Nicole Garcia, Christophe Malavoy and Michel Piccoli.

Director Michel Deville’s 1985 heady brew of a French crime mystery thriller film Death in a French Garden [Pèril en la Demeure] stars Anémone, Richard Bohringer, Nicole Garcia, Christophe Malavoy, Michel Piccoli and Anaïs Jeanneret. Deville won the César Award for Best Director.

Wealthy industrialist Graham Tombsthay (Michel Piccoli) invites shy guitar tutor David Aurphet (Christophe Malavoy) to teach his daughter Vivianne Tombsthay (Anaïs Jeanneret) at his mansion and he gets ensnared in a web of intrigue. The girl’s mère Julia Tombsthay (Nicole Garcia) seduces him, watched by new neighbour Edwige Ledieu (Anémone), and then he meets something darker when he meets a mild-mannered contract killer hitman Daniel Forest (Richard Bohringer).

Death in a French Garden is a stylish, labyrinthine, unsettling cat-and-mouse murder mystery, involving voyeurism, robbery, kidnapping, suicide and sex. It makes a good pair with Deville’s 1981 thriller Deep Water [Eaux profondes].

The cast are Anémone as Edwige Ledieu, Richard Bohringer as Daniel Forest, Nicole Garcia as Julia Tombsthay, Christophe Malavoy as David Aurphet, Michel Piccoli as Graham Tombsthay, Anaïs Jeanneret as Vivianne Tombsthay, Jean-Claude Jay as Father, Hélène Roussel as Mother, Franck de la Personne as Guitar dealer, Élisabeth Vitali as Waitress, and Daniel Vérité as Attacker.

The screenplay by Michel Deville and Rosalinde Deville [Rosalinde Damamme] is based on the novel Sur la Terre comme au Ciel by René Belletto.

Anémone won the César Award for Best Actress for Le Grand Chemin [The Grand Highway] (1987). Her real name was Anne Bourguignon (August 1950 – 30 April 2019) but she took her stage name in 1968 from her character’s title name in her film debut in Anémone, directed by Philippe Garrel. She was nominated for the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for Death in a French Garden, She won the one César Award out of five nominations.

Michel Deville turned 90 on 13 April 2021. La Lectrice [The Reader] (1988) was probably his biggest success. It won the Louis Delluc Prize for Best Film and so did his 1968 film Benjamin.

French film director and screenwriter Michel Deville died on 16 February 2023, at the age of 91. He is celebrated for Benjamin, La Lectrice [The Reader], Le Dossier 51, Deep Water [Eaux profondes] and Death in a French Garden. His last film is The Art of Breaking Up (2005).

Rosalinde Deville was married to Michel Deville until his death.

Death in a French Garden [Pèril en la Demeure] is directed by Michel Deville, runs 100 minutes, is made by Gaumont, Eléfilm and TF1 Films Production, is released by Gaumont (France, 1985), Triumph Films (US 1985) and Artificial Eye (UK 1986), is written by Michel Deville and Rosalinde Deville, based on the novel Sur la Terre comme au Ciel by René Belletto, is produced by Emmanuel Schlumberger, is shot by Martial Thury.

Release date: 13 February 1985.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,527

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