The Bride Wore Black

In Francois Truffaut's homage to Hitchcock movies, Jeanne Moreau is a cool, calculating and vengeful murderess, systematically tracking down the men responsible for the death of her husband on their wedding day.  And an homage it is - even to the point of setting scenes in similar locations and using familiar plot points from "Vertigo", "The Man Who Knew Too Much", "Dial M For Murder", "Northwest by Northwest", and "Marnie", to name a few.  Even choosing frequent Hitchcock collaborator Bernard Herrmann to compose the score (which sounds eerily reminiscent to the score of "North by Northwest").

Jeanne Moreau is fantastic - there's a remoteness to her that makes all the victims fall in love with her just before she coolly "offs" them. And for a murderess, she has her principles, as she demonstrates when she won't let another woman be charged with her crime, and when she confesses to a priest.  It's her picture from start to finish and she's brilliant.  I highly recommend it.

If you've never seen many foreign films, don't be intimidated by the subtitles.  A few minutes in and you'll forget they're there. Enjoy!

Word to the Wise: If you watch this, be prepared that there are a couple of unexpected scenes of nude female anatomy. They are brief, but noticeable.