This is one for the 'style-over-content' buffs which is not, of course, in itself a bad thing. Stylish it definitely is; in spades yet, but content. It's one of those entries where even as you are admiring the style you find yourself asking pertinent questions (Warning: Spoilers Ahead). How has the guitar tutor come to the attention of the family, so much so that the father will consider no one else to teach his - as it turns out - precocious daughter? Would the tutor really leave a tuning-fork behind at his initial interview, indeed, would he even have 1) taken it at all and 2) removed it from his pocket if he had? Given that he DID leave it behind without realising, would the wife insist on returning it to him immediately and then seduce him? Would an apparently single woman living alone move into a large, expensive, family-sized home, effect a limp merely because she had a cane with her, invite a stranger into her new home and over light refreshments engage him in a discussion on the relative pros and cons of blonde versus brunette pubic hair? Would this same eccentric neighbor begin immediately to videotape the sex sessions the tutor enjoyed with the mother of his pupil and then send the tapes to the participants for no recognisable (i.e. blackmail) motive? Would a hit-man be passing at the precise moment the tutor is attacked and, having saved the tutor would the hit-man go on to befriend him and ultimately confide that his next 'target' is the father of his pupil? If you answered 'yes' to any or all of these questions do you always park your brain at the popcorn stand on the way to the auditorium? The trick with a movie of this kind is that, Yes, you DO ask yourself these questions even as the improbable sequence of events unfolds before your eyes but you choose to IGNORE them and surrender to the Style and/or performances. With heavy hitters like these you won't go far wrong and the film remains ultimately a triumph of style over content. 8/10
Review of Death in a French Garden
