The Sleeping Car Murders

Costa-Gavras's first film, a crime story. A woman is found dead in a sleeping car on a train from Marseille to Paris. Inspector Grazzi runs the investigation. The method is simple: find the six people who travelled in the same compartment and take their statements one by one. Then those passengers start dying too. The structure is a classic puzzle mystery, but Costa-Gavras keeps the rhythm fast and cuts the interview scenes short. The narrative proceeds as police procedure; the city, the telephones, the files and the search for addresses are shown in detail. The source is Sébastien Japrisot's novel. The cast is made up of significant French names of the period: Yves Montand as the inspector, Simone Signoret as one of the passengers, with Jean-Louis Trintignant and Michel Piccoli in other roles. After this film Costa-Gavras turned to political thrillers and real recognition came with Z; here is a director still working inside genre. An enjoyable discovery for anyone who likes French crime films and 1960s genre cinema. For a viewer expecting the director's political films, there is no politics here; the narrative is entirely a murder investigation.