The Bride Wore Black

François Truffaut adored Alfred Hitchcock's thrillers, but this is one of the French director's few films that took on the sensibility and themes of the Master of Suspense. Adapted from the same-titled novel by Cornell Woolrich, The Bride Wore Black (1968) stars Jeanne Moreau as cold, calculating Julie Kohler, a kind of black-widow murderess executing a systematic revenge on five men (Jean-Claude Brialy, Michel Bouquet, Charles Denner, Michael Lonsdale, and Claude Rich) unacquainted with her—for reasons that the viewer doesn't know until late in the narrative. Truffaut works in a very different style than Hitchcock, letting Julie's fierce focus and psychological gamesmanship provide the tension. Her black garb stands out in the production's subdued color, marking her as an angel of death, as she slowly charms and seduces each of her targets until they drop their guard, enabling her to carry out her ingenious executions (all meticulously staged by Truffaut with little dialogue). Despite Julie's icy demeanor, Truffaut is clearly on her side even before we know why she has set her sights on these particular victims. Truffaut reveals each man to be shallow and pathetic, and he clearly appreciates the irony of the ways in which the men welcome the executioner into their lives. Longtime Hitchcock composer Bernard Herrmann provides the ominous score. A Blu-ray edition (which includes an alternate French language soundtrack) is also available online exclusively from Screen Archives Entertainment (www.screenarchives.com). Recommended. (S. Axmaker)