Masques

Christian Legagneur, the host of a talent show, invites the young journalist Roland Wolf to his house to write his biography. On screen and off he is smiling and courteous. Wolf's real purpose is different: he is tracing his missing sister. Everyone in the house is wearing a mask and the film takes them off one at a time. Claude Chabrol directed and wrote the screenplay with Odile Barski. Philippe Noiret plays Legagneur and Robin Renucci plays Wolf, with Bernadette Lafont, Anne Brochet and Monique Chaumette in the cast. Marin Karmitz produced. It opened on 11 February 1987, runs 100 minutes and screened at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival. The reviews were mixed. Time Out wrote that Chabrol frames the verbal sparring with characteristic precision while the plot suffers from a surfeit of politesse and a dearth of red-blooded passion. The New York Times called it a thriller that satisfies the audience's expectations while suggesting Chabrol seemed bored with the material. The critic Craig Williams was warmer and called it one of his best films of the eighties. Who it is for: viewers who like Chabrol's portraits of the bourgeoisie and thrillers set inside one house. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a fast thriller. The film watches the game of manners at the table more than the crime.