Daily Movie Rec 6/17/2023
L'assassin habite au 21 (1942)
"Blankness is far scarier. It's open to interpretation."
Directed by: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Cinematography by: Armand Thirard
Country: France
Plot:
A deft detective goes undercover at a boarding house full of eccentrics to track down a serial killer who's been terrorizing Paris.
Reasons to watch:
Like a killer posing as an ordinary member of society, L'assassin habite au 21 is a screwball comedy posing as a whodunnit. Though much more comedic in nature than his masterworks, the winding mystery littered with false floors and red herrings, the nimble, quick-witted script full of brash personalities, and the bursts of innovation in the suspense sequences show flashes of the greatness to come with Clouzot, who would become the most renowned filmmaker in post-WW II France, preceding their iconic New Wave movement.
The Criterion Channel
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