Landru (1963)

Inspired by the final years of the life of Henri Désiré Landru (1869-1922), a famous French murderer-for-profit of women.

This film is well regarded for its historical rigor, but it seems to go against known facts by making its protagonist a conscientious paterfamilias. The real Landru was estranged from his wife when he committed his murders, and, on my Internet searches, I found no information implying that he supported her or his children with the money he obtained from his crimes. Whatever the truth is, I found the double life the protagonist leads rather implausible. Furthermore, he is played in a caricatural manner by the leading actor, and is made to recite Baudelaire at every imaginable occasion, coming across as quite a buffoon. The film's most sensible point seems to be that the war altered the populational equilibrium of Europe, leaving a surplus of unaccompanied women who were easy prey to unscrupled men. Despite being vaguely instructive about some facts of life (e.g. the psychology of women, cp. Les bonnes femmes), this is mostly a rather dull film.

Preceding the film, in the copy broadcast by TV5, one reads (as translated into English) that "The film you are about to see has received the Special Jury Prize at the International Film Festival at Cannes in 1962", a statement which is patently untrue and made me wonder whether I am living in a Twilight Zone episode.

Rating: 44