The Cry of the Owl is a 1987 thriller film adapted from the 1962 novel The Cry of the Owl

The Cry of the Owl

The Cry of the Owl is a psychological thriller novel by Patricia Highsmith.- Plot summary:Following a messy divorce from his vindictive wife Nickie, Robert Forrester leaves New York and moves to a small Pennsylvania town, where he develops an obsession with the seemingly happy, 23-year old Jenny...

by Patricia Highsmith

Patricia Highsmith

Patricia Highsmith was an American novelist and short-story writer most widely known for her psychological thrillers, which led to more than two dozen film adaptations. Her first novel, Strangers on a Train, has been adapted for stage and screen numerous times, notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951...

. The film was directed by French

French people

The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 director Claude Chabrol

Claude Chabrol

Claude Chabrol was a French film director, a member of the French New Wave group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s...

 and stars Christophe Malavoy

Christophe Malavoy

-Selected filmography:* Madame Bovary* Le Cri du hibou* La Balance* A Captain's Honor* Le Voyage en douce* Death in a French Garden-External links:...

, Mathilda May

Mathilda May

Mathilda May is a French film actress.-Early life:May was born in Paris. Her father is playwright Victor Haïm, who is of Greek and Turkish descent. Her mother is Swedish ballet teacher and choreographer Margareta Hanson...

 and Virginie Thévenet

Virginie Thévenet

-Films with Virginie Thévenet as actress:* 1970 : Les Stances de Sophie, by Moshé Mizrahi* 1972 : Faustine et le Bel Été* 1972 : Les Zozos, by Pascal Thomas, Martine* 1976 : Small Change, by François Truffaut...

.

Plot

Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

ian illustrator Robert becomes obsessed with a young woman, Juliette. Night after night, Robert sneaks around the house to catch a glimpse of Juliette, until one day he finally gathers the courage to introduce himself. Through her friendship with Robert, Juliette realizes that she is not happy with her fiancé, Patrick, and leaves him to be with Robert.

One night, Patrick attacks Robert in a deserted area; Robert defends himself and knocks Patrick unconscious, leaving him on the shores of a nearby river. The next day, Robert is interrogated by the police. Patrick is missing, and suddenly Robert is the prime suspect. Nobody knows that Patrick has allied with Robert's bitter ex-wife, Véronique, to take revenge on Robert; he is hiding from the police in order to make them think Robert killed him. The whole situation threatens to escalate when Juliette commits suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

, and Patrick launches a vendetta against Robert.

Cast

• Christophe Malavoy
  Christophe Malavoy
  -Selected filmography:* Madame Bovary* Le Cri du hibou* La Balance* A Captain's Honor* Le Voyage en douce* Death in a French Garden-External links:...
  
   as Robert
• Mathilda May
  Mathilda May
  Mathilda May is a French film actress.-Early life:May was born in Paris. Her father is playwright Victor Haïm, who is of Greek and Turkish descent. Her mother is Swedish ballet teacher and choreographer Margareta Hanson...
  
   as Juliette
• Jacques Penot as Patrick
• Jean-Pierre Kalfon
  Jean-Pierre Kalfon
  Jean-Pierre Kalfon is a French film and television actor.-Selected filmography:* The Rabbi's Cat * Parc * The Dreamers * Lulu * La Repetition...
  
   as Police commissioner
• Virginie Thévenet
  Virginie Thévenet
  -Films with Virginie Thévenet as actress:* 1970 : Les Stances de Sophie, by Moshé Mizrahi* 1972 : Faustine et le Bel Été* 1972 : Les Zozos, by Pascal Thomas, Martine* 1976 : Small Change, by François Truffaut...
  
   as Véronique
• Patrice Kerbrat as Marcello
• Jean-Claude Lecas as Jacques
• Agnès Denèfle as Suzie
• Victor Garrivier as Doctor
• Jacques Brunet as Father
• Charles Millot as Director
• Yvette Petit as Neighbor
• Dominique Zardi
  Dominique Zardi
  Dominique Zardi was a French actor. He played in more than 600 films-Selected filmography:- External links :* *...
  
   as Neighbor
• Henri Attal as Cop
• Albert Dray as Cop
• Nadine Hoffmann as Josette
• Gérard Croce as Cop
• Isabelle Charraix as Mme Tessier
• Laurent Picaudon as Boy
• Christian Bouvier as Maître d'hôtel
• Gilles Dreu as M. Tessier

Release

The film premiered on October 28, 1987 in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. It was featured at the Toronto International Film Festival

Toronto International Film Festival

The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...

 on September 9, 1987. It made its US premiere on October 16, 1991 in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. The DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 release for the US market is set for June 8, 2010.

American adaptation

In 2009, British

British people

The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 filmmaker Jamie Thraves

Jamie Thraves

Jamie Thraves is a British film writer and director.Jamie Thraves began making early short experimental films in 1989 at Hull University, having previously studied illustration . His graduation film Scratch and The Take-Out both went on to win numerous awards at short film festivals worldwide...

 directed a new adaptation of the novel for the US market. It stars Julia Stiles

Julia Stiles

Julia O'Hara Stiles is an American actress.After beginning her career in small parts in a New York City theatre troupe, she has moved on to leading roles in plays by writers as diverse as William Shakespeare and David Mamet...

, Charlotte Sullivan

Charlotte Sullivan

Charlotte Sullivan is a Canadian actress. Her first on-screen role was an extra in a Liza Minelli music video. She has had a starring role in The New Ghostwriter Mysteries and Harriet the Spy as well as smaller parts in How to Deal and Fever Pitch...

 and Paddy Considine

Paddy Considine

Patrick George "Paddy" Considine is an English actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, musician and frequent collaborator with Shane Meadows. Best known to audiences for his portrayals of dark, troubled, morally or mentally ambiguous characters...

.

Awards and nominations

• César Awards (France)
  • Won: Most Promising Actress
    César Award for Most Promising Actress
    The following is the list of winners of the César Award for Most Promising Actress . Since its inception in 1983, the award is given as part of the French film industry's annual César Awards....
    
     (Mathilda May)
  • Nominated: Best Actor – Supporting Role (Jean-Pierre Kalfon)