Spotlight on a Murderer

Franju’s wild final feature, and second foray into Feuillade territory, is a pulpy fantasy/crime thriller featuring a search for treasure hidden by the Templars, a red-masked villain known as The Man Without a Face (plus his army of zombielike killers), and Gayle Hunnicutt equipped with a catsuit and deadly darts.

In this adaptation of Jean Cocteau’s novel, delusions of reality are conveyed through two very different yet equally idealistic protagonists in WWI France: a Polish widow (Emmanuelle Riva) who aids wounded soldiers on the front lines and a starry-eyed teenager (Fabrice Rouleau) who creates a new identity in order to enlist.

This playful, hyper-stylish homage to Louis Feuillade’s silent serials follows the titular black hat and cloak–wearing vigilante, whose latest target is a thieving banker, entangling his virtuous daughter, her child’s scheming governess, and a detective on Judex’s trail.

“If the visual intensity of the silent film had never existed, Franju would have invented it.” – Raymond Durgnat

An exquisite Emmanuelle Riva appears in the title role of a complex woman stifled by a confining provincial existence and loveless marriage. Her increasing resistance to playing the role of perfect wife and mother triggers an intense, murderous hatred for her boring, landowner husband (Philippe Noiret)

An early body-horror marvel, Franju’s influential chiller sees a surgeon/mad scientist (Pierre Brasseur) take extreme measures to restore the face of his daughter (Édith Scob) after a disfiguring car accident. Misunderstood upon its release and now rightfully recognized as a masterpiece, Franju’s best-known work is memorably gruesome and gorgeous.

A hard-hitting look at mental health misdealing, Franju’s first fiction feature stars Jean-Pierre Mocky as a young man adrift from purpose, who is institutionalized by his dad, a miserable lawyer. Audiences feel François’s pain as he struggles to reclaim his freedom, especially now that he has fallen in love (Anouk Aimée).

Before directing his debut narrative feature in 1958, Franju made a series of extraordinary documentary shorts beginning with Le Métro (1935), co-directed by Henri Langlois. After an extended break, he created La Premiere nuit (The First Night, 1958), Notre-Dame, Cathédrale de Paris (1957), Mon Chien (My Dog, 1955) and the legendary Blood of the Beasts (Le Sang des bêtes, 1948). These films and more will be featured in this program.