Haddoque Review of Death in a French Garden

Death in a French Garden (1985)

A paradoxical mystery you hope you never solve

[8/10 · 1 June 2007]

One of the movies that keep on running long after you've stopped watching. One of those paradoxical stories, that become the more confused the more one understands. One of those one is tempted to watch again and again, hoping to understand this time, at the same time anxious to spoil the commitment by finally finding out what it's all about. Perhaps paradox is the key. Nicole Garcia's tempting beyond all limits turns out to be destruction (poor telephone!), Piccoli's apparent impotence turns out to be masterminding some hideous plan, Bohringer's menacing ways lead to redemption. The more Malavoy gets into the mess, the more lustfully he ventures on getting even deeper into it. Malavoy's father hands the little time-bomb to his son as if it was his old watch or camera, wishing him luck and grinning as if it's been just another visit of a beloved child. And things become boring once they're solved and all the hoods dead. What's left is a country community on an old farm. Who wouldn't yearn to be back in the beautiful and elegant bourgeois world Malavoy and his pupil have just left, the corruption and conspiracy it conceals below an innocent surface not being an odd, but the matter you actually want.