Le temps de mourir (1970)
aka The Time to Die
#3912
Viewing Date: 4-20-2012
Posting Date: 4-30-2012
Directed by Andre Farwagi
Featuring Anna Karina, Bruno Cremer, Jean Rochefort
Country: France
What it is: Futuristic thriller
A woman suffers a riding accident on an estate while carrying a film canister. Inside the canister is a film of a man being killed that clearly shows the killer.
This is another movie that I've rescued from my "ones that got away" list, but, as is often the case, I've only been able to find it without English subtitles or dubbing, thus leaving me having to rely on the visuals alone to sort out the story. Back when I covered it for my other list, I commented that what plot descriptions I had found for it to be rather confusing, and the only clue I ever got to its fantastic content was that it was "futuristic". Well, there is a futuristic touch to some of the movie, that much is clear, and one thing I was trying to watch for was whether the futuristic setting was merely a stylistic conceit or whether it had something to do with the storyline. Having now seen the whole movie, I suspect that the futuristic setting is not just a stylistic conceit. I also suspect that the plot descriptions I've found (which usually mention how the killer begins stalking those who've seen the film) aren't entirely accurate, at least as far as I can make out here. Let's just say that there's a twist ending to the movie that I can't discuss without giving the game away, and I'm not sure how much information I can reveal, because I don't know when or if the dialogue reveals that information earlier than the ending. All I'll say is that it has something to do with time, and until I can see a version in English, I'm going to have to leave it at that.
