A surburban crime melodrama from French New Wave director Chabrol that opens as Parisian advertising man Bouquet strangles his mistress, the wife of his best friend, Perier. His guilt goes undetected by the police, but he cannot live with his crime.
He pitifully tells his wife, Audran, of his affair and the subsequent murder. She accepts the news with surprising calm, talking him out of turning himself in. He then confesses to Perier, who also accepts the news as if he were just told a weather report. Bouquet reveals that his relationship
with Perier's wife was a sadomasochistic one, with his act of punishment being carried a bit too far. It is now his turn to be punished, but his confessions only bring solace. One evening (the nightfall of the title representing death) Bouquet quietly dies after taking an overdose of sleeping
medicine that his wife has prepared.
As interesting as the plot may seem, JUST BEFORE NIGHTFALL is more concerned with its poke at the middle class than with characterization or pacing. The result is an incredibly slow-moving picture, which is as ugly visually (the modernized, split-level, glassy house they live in is colored with
putrid oranges and greens) as the film's psychological themes are. One wishes that Bouquet had strangled Perier, who designed the house, instead of his wife. leave a comment