It Happened at the Inn

A farm and an inn in the French countryside. A large family called Goupi lives there and each of them has a nickname: Red Hands, Golden Leg, Moonlight, the Emperor. A young Goupi arrives from Paris, in a collar and tie, not of the place. On the same day the old woman of the family is found dead. Who killed her is not clear and everyone has a reason. There is also family money said to be missing. The family conducts its own investigation and at the same time will not let the gendarmes in. Jacques Becker directs the French film; a hundred and four minutes, with Fernand Ledoux as Red Hands. It was shot in 1943, in France under German occupation. It was Becker's second feature and the film that made his name; it shows the countryside without decoration, in its own speech and on its own terms.