MOVIE REVIEW : Psychological Suspense in ‘En Toute Innocence’

Few dramas of psychological suspense are set up with the swiftness and economy of Alain Jessua’s “En Toute Innocence” (at the Monica 4-Plex). No sooner do we make the acquaintance of the busy, pleasant people at a fine old French country estate near Bordeaux than the master of the house, Paul Duchesne (Michel Serrault), is involved in a car crash that leaves him with broken legs and an apparent loss of speech; moments before the accident he has caught his daughter-in-law Catherine (Nathalie Baye) in an act of adultery.

A fascination with the ultimately enigmatic nature of human behavior charges this taut yet low-key cat-and-mouse thriller, based on an Andre Lay novel, just as it did Jessua’s 1964 “Life Upside Down,” which depicts a young man slipping ever so gently into schizophrenia. Understandably, Catherine is distraught with guilt and begs Paul’s forgiveness, which to him is out of the question--even though, as she subsequently points out, he himself was hardly faithful to his late wife.

Almost immediately, the two are locked in all-out war. Catherine is not about to give up her husband Tom (Andre Valardy), whom she loves despite their unsatisfactory sex life, nor her place in her father-in-law’s internationally renowned architectural firm, housed in a wing of the estate, where she works alongside both her husband and her lover (Francois Dunoyer). Jessua leaves us with the feeling that had Paul not caught Catherine in her infidelity, life at the estate might well have gone on smoothly for the rest of everyone’s lives. But Catherine has provoked Paul; he may be shocked and hurt in behalf of the son he purportedly loves (but almost certainly does not respect), but he must try to destroy Catherine for behaving in a way he regards as a threat to his ordered, contented existence.

Catherine soon realizes that Paul feels personally betrayed because he’s attracted to her himself. But she’s not about to let Paul bend and stunt her the way he has his cherished bonsai trees, which is perhaps the way he has treated the naive, unperceptive Tom too.

Yet Paul and Catherine lose all sense of proportion as their dark duel rapidly, relentlessly escalates. Not surprisingly, Serrault and Baye, as two of France’s best-known and most accomplished screen stars, play their highly complex roles with their customary finesse and discipline, drawing upon their seemingly limitless reserves.

This coolly elegant film, which recalls Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock with equal force, suggests how powerful an attraction success is for women in regard to men. Paunchy, 60-ish, self-preoccupied but ever a forceful and decisive personality, Paul inspires the absolute devotion of his otherwise salty and outspoken housekeeper (Suzanne Flon) and the unflinching concern of a beautiful young mistress. You even believe Catherine when, just before she declares war, she tells Paul she loves him just as she loves her husband.

‘En Toute Innocence’

Michel Serrault: Paul Duchesne

Nathalie Baye: Catherine

Suzanne Flon: Clemence

Andre Valardy: Thomas

A Morris Projects release of an A.J. Films production in association with Images Investissment, Slav 1 and TF1 Films. Producer-director Alain Jessua. Screenplay D. Roulet, L. Beraud, Jessua; from a novel by Andre Lay. Cinematographer Jean Rabier. Editor Helene Plemiannikov. Music Michel Portal. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes. In French, with English subtitles.

Times-rated Mature (adult themes, situations).