Fred works for an insurance company as a computer engineer. He is bored with enduring the trials of his shrewish wife, so, after using actuarial tables to calculate the most common means of death, he cleverly prepares the family bathroom and brings about her demise. For a while he is content with his new freedom, but then he recognizes that a friend is in a similar situation.
Acting
Trintignant's dead-eyed satisfaction is terrifyingly funny
Writing
Actuarial tables as murder weapon—sickeningly clever
Direction
Pirès treats homicide with casual lunch-break energy
Director
Gérard Pirès
Jean-Louis Trintignant
Fred Malone
Mireille Darc
Charlotte
Bernadette Lafont
Louise Delouette
Lea Massari
Gloria
Claude Piéplu
Piette Tournier
Claudia Marsani
Virginia
Bernard Fresson
Delouette
Jean Abeillé
Anémone
Secretary
Albert Augier
Michel Blanc
Choukroun
Michel Delahaye
Member of the board of directors
Jean-Yves Gautier
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This gem captures 1970s French cinema's obsession with bourgeois malaise and casual amorality—think Chabrol without the guilt.
Mireille Darc, playing the victim, was a massive star; her willingness to die horribly for 20 minutes of screen time says everything about the script's pull.
FR
IT
