Que la Bête Meure [The Beast Must Die] **** (1969, Michel Duchaussoy, Caroline Cellier, Jean Yanne) – Classic Movie Review 12,182

Claude Chabrol’s suspenseful 1969 French psychological thriller film Que la Bête Meure [The Beast Must Die] is based on the 1938 detective novel by Cecil Day-Lewis, writing as Nicholas Blake.

Writer-director Claude Chabrol’s suspenseful and engrossing 1969 French/ Italian psychological thriller film Que la Bête Meure [The Beast Must Die] is based on the 1938 detective novel by Cecil Day-Lewis, written under the pen name of Nicholas Blake.

Michel Duchaussoy plays widower Charles Thénier, who vows murderous revenge after his only son, aged nine, is killed in a hit-and-run accident by a speeding sports car. He tracks down and seduces the driver’s attractive young mistress, actress Hélène Lanson (Caroline Cellier), who was in the passenger seat, by adopting a pseudonym and posing as a screenwriter. He discovers that the driver was her brother-in-law Paul Decourt (Jean Yanne) and arranges a trip with Hélène to visit her sister’s family in Brittany and tries to kill the driver.

The Cecil Day-Lewis novel proves ideal material for Chabrol, inspiring him. The literate, polished and thoughtful screenplay is by Paul Gégauff, with dialogue by Claude Chabrol. It is one of Chabrol’s best films, coming from a brilliant period in his work, which also includes Le Biches (1968) and La Femme infidèle (1968).

The cast are Michel Duchaussoy as Charles Thénier, Caroline Cellier as Hélène Lanson, Jean Yanne as Paul Decourt, Anouk Ferjac as Jeanne Decourt, Marc Di Napoli as Philippe Decourt, Louise Chevalier as Madame Levenes, Dominique Zardi as Police Inspector, and Maurice Pialat as Police Commissioner.

The title is inspired by a line in Four Serious Songs by Johannes Brahms, itself a reference to Ecclesiastes. The Brahms song ‘Denn es gehet dem Menschen wie dem Vieh’ (‘For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts’) from Four Serious Songs op. 121, is sung by Kathleen Ferrier and played throughout.

The film is also known as This Man Must Die.

The 1938 novel The Beast Must Die is the fourth in a series of novels featuring the private detective Nigel Strangeways. The novel was also adapted into the 1952 Argentine film The Beast Must Die directed by Román Viñoly Barreto and starring Laura Hidalgo and was the basis of a 2021 British TV series The Beast Must Die.

Irish-born British poet Cecil Day-Lewis (27 April 1904 – 22 May 1972) was Poet Laureate from 1968 until his death in 1972. He is the father of actor Sir Daniel Day-Lewis, and documentary filmmaker and TV chef Tamasin Day-Lewis.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,182

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