Qui? (1970)
Directed by Léonard Keigel

Film Review

After starting out as an assistant for René Clément on Jeux interdits (1952) and Gervaise (1956), Léonard Keigel embarked on a promising career as a film director with Leviathan (1962), an inspired adaptation of a Julian Green novel.  After adapting Pushkin's short story The Queen of Spades, Keigel crashed and burned with his third feature,  Qui?, a thriller that, like its director's career, fails to live up to the promise of its dramatic opening.  The film's disappointing performance at the French box office pretty well put the put the kibosh on Keigel's career, although he did make one further film Une femme, un jour (1977).

The lukewarm reaction to Qui? is all the more puzzling given that it stars two of French cinema's most talented and photogenic actors.  A year after their memorable pairing on Jacques Deray's La Piscine (1969), Romy Schneider and Maurice Ronet are brought together for another round of murderous intrigue, one in which Ronet (for once) is not required to play the corpse.  As the film is virtually a two-handed drama, there is plenty of chance to savour the sparkling rapport between these two magnificent actors, although both are visibly struggling to carry a film that has barely enough substance to keep it going for its full 78 minutes.

Despite having support on the script from Paul Gégauff, Claude Chabrol's screenwriter of choice throughout the 60 and 70s, Keigel has difficulty sustaining the narrative and ends up introducing digressions that merely complicate matters for no good reason.  Ronet's anxiety over Schneider's possible complicity in a murder isn't pushed nearly as far as it should have been, and so the opportunity to deliver a harrowingly suspenseful thriller is pretty well wasted.  The film has a strong beginning and quite a strong ending (even if it is an obvious rip-off of René Clément's Plein soleil).  It's the bit in the middle where the film goes somewhat adrift, and the endless replaying of the two songs composed by Claude Bolling for the film ('Who Are You?' and 'Strange Magic') does little to disguise the dearth of plot.  Ultimately, it is Maurice Ronet's tortured struggle to unravel the mystery of Romy Schneider that makes the film worth watching, and for some that is reason enough.

Film Synopsis

Marina has just had the closest brush with death she can imagine.  She can scarcely believe she is still alive.  Less than ten minutes ago, she and her boyfriend Claude were cruising along a stretch of coastal road in Brittany when they got into a violent argument.  To scare his partner, Claude steered the car towards the edge of a cliff.  He miscalculated and the car went right over the edge and plunged into the sea.  Marina's lightning-fast reaction allowed to escape just in time.  Claude was not so fortunate.  The latter's brother, Serge, accepts Marina's version of events - that this was an unfortunate accident - but he begins to have second thoughts as he gets to know the vulnerable young woman.

Marina gladly accepts Serge's invitation to spend some time in his home until she has fully recovered.  Gentle and understanding, Serge is completely unlike his aggressive brother Claude, and Marina cannot resist falling in love with him.  The recently divorced Serge finds Marina just as attractive.  A promising romance is curtailed when Serge happens upon a revolver cartridge in Marina's handbag - with one bullet missing!  He is now convinced that there is more to Claude's death than his girlfriend is prepared to admit.  Serge's doubts grow and in the end he is driven to visit the spot where his brother met his death.  Here he finds a revolver that matches the incriminating cartridge.  Questioned about the gun, Marina insists that Claude threatened her with it and fired one shot into the air at the inn where they were staying.  Unfortunately, no one at the inn seems to have heard the gunshot...

Serge now finds himself horribly conflicted.  Despite being fatally attracted to Marina, he is half-convinced that she murdered his brother and made his death appear to be an accident.  As Serge persists with his investigation, looking for that vital piece of evidence that will either confirm or refute his suspicions, Marina is followed around town by someone who clearly means her no good.  The young woman can hardly believe her eyes when Claude appears from nowhere, seemingly unharmed.  Like Marina, Claude just managed to get out of the car before it went over the cliff edge.  He has been observing Serge and his girlfriend ever since, and now he intends exacting a cruel revenge against them both.

Aware that Serge has fallen in love with Marina and will most likely marry her, Claude now plans to disappear for good, leaving his brother with a constant niggling doubt over his partner's guilt.  Marina is so appalled by this wicked plan that she stabs Claude to death and hastily buries his body in the garden.  Serge then suddenly shows up with the impossible news that Claude's body has just been fished out of the sea by the police in Brest.  He has identified the body and there can be no doubt that his brother is dead, drowned just as Marina had said.  The matter apparently resolved, Serge and Marina set off on a boating trip together, certain that their nightmare is finally behind them.  They have a nasty surprise waiting for them when they get back...