Capital Celluloid 2018 - Day 209: Mon Aug 6

La Verite (Clouzot, 1960): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 8.45pm


This Henri-Georges Clouzot film, which is also being shown on August 3rd and 27th, is part of the Big Screen Classics strand at BFI Southbank. You can find the full details here.

Chicago Reader review:
A smash hit in France and an Oscar nominee in the U.S., this 1960 courtroom drama was the last big success for writer-director Henri-Georges Clouzot, whose jaundiced view of humanity resonated in such classic mysteries as The Raven (1943) and Diabolique (1955). Brigitte Bardot stars as a loose woman on trial for the murder of her former lover, and as scripted by Clouzot, the movie draws heavily on the subtext of Bardot's real-life infamy: both the prosecution and the defense are determined to try her in the court of public opinion, where her real crime seems to be not homicide but a liberal attitude toward her own body. The blond sex symbol frequently named this as her best film, and she delivers a potent performance as a good-time girl gone bad, but the movie's chief asset is Clouzot's acid portrayal of a cynical legal system and puritanical society.
JR Jones


Here (and above) is an extract.

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