Voici Le Temps Des Assassins / Deadlier Than The Male (1956) :
Brief Review -
A ferocious take on femme fatale in its deadliest form that needs to be viewed for its shocking first-time impact. You may have seen many Femme Fatales from old Hollywood, including several unbeaten classics, but I doubt if you have seen the deadliest Femme Fatale presentation of the leading lady as such. It's absurd and terrifying sometimes because it doesn't fit in your (or mine) regular columns, but that's what makes it shocking. For instance, I personally hate seeing a lady playing femme fatale with a man of her father's age and a man of her age at the same time, and there is nothing shocking here. But it will be a bit shocking if those two men are father and son. It will be a sure fire shock when you know that the girl was the man's daughter, and he introduced her to his son as his sort of sister. That's what's absurd here. I don't belong to that society where a girl can marry her father and also have an affair with her stepbrother. That's ridiculous. I have cut 1 mark in the final rating for that. Now, when I think of it again after the film, I realise that the story would have been uninteresting without those ridiculous conflicts. Here's adding half a mark extra again. Still, the idea is really disturbing, extremely peculiar, and somewhat annihilating. The film needs to be viewed for that. Rest; thankfully, it has a good and positive climax where things come down to a "happy ending". Jean Gabin is superb, as expected, but it's Danièle Delorme who stole my attention. She is so damn good in that gruesomely deadly role. Julien Duvivier's direction is convincing, as the film does not have any flawed moments, and it keeps you very hooked. I'd say you should definitely have a look, but not as a classic or a great film, but to see something pathbreaking that's suitable for our standard human and social conscience.
RATING - 6.5/10*
By - #samthebestest.
A ferocious take on femme fatale in its deadliest form that needs to be viewed for its shocking first-time impact. You may have seen many Femme Fatales from old Hollywood, including several unbeaten classics, but I doubt if you have seen the deadliest Femme Fatale presentation of the leading lady as such. It's absurd and terrifying sometimes because it doesn't fit in your (or mine) regular columns, but that's what makes it shocking. For instance, I personally hate seeing a lady playing femme fatale with a man of her father's age and a man of her age at the same time, and there is nothing shocking here. But it will be a bit shocking if those two men are father and son. It will be a sure fire shock when you know that the girl was the man's daughter, and he introduced her to his son as his sort of sister. That's what's absurd here. I don't belong to that society where a girl can marry her father and also have an affair with her stepbrother. That's ridiculous. I have cut 1 mark in the final rating for that. Now, when I think of it again after the film, I realise that the story would have been uninteresting without those ridiculous conflicts. Here's adding half a mark extra again. Still, the idea is really disturbing, extremely peculiar, and somewhat annihilating. The film needs to be viewed for that. Rest; thankfully, it has a good and positive climax where things come down to a "happy ending". Jean Gabin is superb, as expected, but it's Danièle Delorme who stole my attention. She is so damn good in that gruesomely deadly role. Julien Duvivier's direction is convincing, as the film does not have any flawed moments, and it keeps you very hooked. I'd say you should definitely have a look, but not as a classic or a great film, but to see something pathbreaking that's suitable for our standard human and social conscience.
RATING - 6.5/10*
By - #samthebestest.