This Man Must Die
Encyclopedia
This Man Must Die American title The Beast Must Die, is a 1969 French
French films of 1969
A list of films produced in France in 1969.-1969:-External links:* at the Internet Movie Database**...

 and Italian
Cinema of Italy
The history of Italian cinema began just a few months after the Lumière brothers had patented their Cinematographe, when Pope Leo XIII was filmed for a few seconds in the act of blessing the camera.-Early years:...

 thriller film directed by 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...

. The story is based on a 1938 novel by Cecil Day-Lewis
Cecil Day-Lewis
Cecil Day-Lewis CBE was an Irish poet and the Poet Laureate from 1968 until his death in 1972. He also wrote mystery stories under the pseudonym of Nicholas Blake...

, writing as Nicholas Blake, The Beast Must Die. The film had a total of 1,092,910 admissions in France.

Plot

A high-powered car races through the French countryside. A young woman is in the passenger seat. It enters a small village at speed.

Charles Thénier's nine year old son, returning from the beach, is run over at speed and the driver continues on without stopping.

Charles vows to have his revenge, keeping a note of his thoughts in a journal.

The police investigation is fruitless. Charles thinks the guilty party may run a garage as there is no record of a car going in for repair. Partly following his hunches and partly by chance he discovers that actress Hélène Lanson was the passenger in the car.

He seduces her under a false name as part of his revenge plan, and discovers that the real killer is her brother-in-law Paul Decourt, a man detestable even to his own family. He contrives for Hélène and himself "to visit the family" in Brittany, to further his plot.

While Charles is left with conflicting thoughts as to whether or not he will kill him, consciously saving him from a cliff-fall, Paul's teenage son, Phillipe, confides in him his own wishes to see his father dead.

Hélène confesses that she once slept with Paul but although Charles presses her for further confessions she does not confess the accident, though she is clearly thinking of it.

Charles decides to kill Paul in a faked boating accident and buys a yacht for the purpose. However Paul pulls a gun on him and reveals that he has read his journal and knows his plot. He has passed the journal to his solicitor to read should something happen to him.

Charles appears to give up and drives off with Hélène. In a roadside cafe the TV announces the death of Paul Decourt in a poisoning, and appeals for Charles to return, which they do.

He announces to the police that it would be foolhardy to kill Paul when he knew the journal would reach them (which it has). But they conclude this to be a double bluff and arrest him. However, Paul's son enters and confesses.

Back at their hotel, Charles makes love to Hélène for a final time. He leaves a confession on the pillow stating that the son's misplaced fatherly love for Charles had caused him to confess but Charles could not let this happen, it was he who killed Paul. He must sail off never to be seen again. His confession probably lets the son off and reopens the issue but it remains ambiguous as to which of the two did the act.

Selected cast

  • Michel Duchaussoy
    Michel Duchaussoy
    Michel Duchaussoy is a French film actor. He has appeared in 130 films since 1962.-Selected filmography:* The Killing Game * The Unfaithful Wife * This Man Must Die * Just Before Nightfall...

     as Charles Thenier
  • Caroline Cellier
    Caroline Cellier
    Caroline Cellier is a French actress. She has appeared in such films as L'année des méduses , La vie, l'amour, la mort, Le zèbre and Le plaisir .-External links:...

     as Helene Lanson
  • Jean Yanne
    Jean Yanne
    Jean Yanne is the artist name of Jean Gouyé, born the 18 July 1933 in Les Lilas who died the 23 May 2003 in Morsains...

     as Paul Decourt
  • Anouk Ferjac
    Anouk Ferjac
    Anouk Ferjac is a French actress. She has appeared in 100 films and television shows between 1946 and 2000.-Selected filmography:* Justice Is Done * La Traversée de Paris * Live for Life...

     as Jeanne Decourt
  • Marc Di Napoli as Phillippe Decourt
  • Louise Chevalier as Madame Levenes
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