Henri Savin has managed a trucking company for his lover, Dominique Montlaur, for many years. Now he is planning to leave her for Julie Manet, the woman he has made pregnant, and Dominique is hysterical. She first threatens suicide, then shows up at a meeting of Savin and Julie. Dominique tries everything she can think of to break Savin and Julie apart, to no avail. Frustrated in her efforts, she jumps off a cliff and dies. Savin insists that he and Julie lie to the police about the encounter, although Dominique's death was a suicide and therefore they had no direct hand in it. Detective Waldeck investigates Dominique's death.
Acting
Montand's crumbling masculinity; Dubois's unhinged desperation.
Direction
Corneau turns melodrama into slow-burn psychological horror.
Cinematography
Bleak landscapes mirroring moral emptiness.
Director
Alain Corneau
Yves Montand
Henri Savin
Carole Laure
Julie Manet
Marie Dubois
Dominique Montlaur, Truck Company Manager
Jean-François Balmer
Inspector Waldeck
Marc Eyraud
Examining Magistrate Baron
Roger Muni
Bruno, Waldeck's Deputy
Jacques Rispal
Paco, Trucks Dispatcher
Michel Ruhl
Leverrier, Lawyer
Gabriel Gascon
Pannequin
Martin Trévières
Belloc, Montlaur's Competitor
Albert Michel
Grocery Owner
Pierre Frag
Maurice
Marie Pillet
Yvette, Savin's Assistant
Fabienne Arel
Maria
Jacques Plée
Cashier
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Corneau adapted this from his own novel, written before his directorial career took off — rare case of author adapting themselves in French cinema.
The film flopped commercially but critics now read it as a prescient deconstruction of toxic masculinity decades before the term existed — Henri destroys everything trying to maintain control.
FR
