Aka - Der Morder
Aka - Enough Rope
This French production (though the version I saw was in German) is based
on an early novel by Patricia Highsmith titled the Blunderers. Highsmith
became famous for her suspenseful psychological thrillers such as the Ripley
novels and her first novel Strangers on a Train as well as for her own personal
demons. This has faint echoes of Strangers though almost its opposite. It
is directed by Claude Autant-Lara who began his directing career in the 1920s
but I believe this is the first film of his that I have seen. It is compelling
though lacking in any sense of humanity. None of the characters are good
people; they are selfish, liars, killers, cheaters, psychotic and all that
happens is because of their character. Character creates fate.
It begins with a murder. A savage one - in the silent night. Kimmel (Gert
Fröbe, a year before Goldfinger) with light shining off his thick glasses
and mad sweaty grin persuades a woman to get off a bus that has stopped at
a rest area. He drags her into a wooden area and stabs her to death and drives
off. Initially, I expected he was a serial killer but it turns out that she
is his wife and he has set up an alibi at the local movie theater. Saccard
(Maurice Ronet) has had enough of his wife (Yvonne Furneaux). She is constantly
accusing him of affairs and embarrassing him in front of other people. He
wants a divorce; she refuses. He is fascinated by the Kimmel murder and visits
the man. He is sure he killed his wife and wants the courage to do the same.
He begins an affair with Ellie (Marina Vlady) on the same day that his wife
decides to take a bus to see her ailing mother. He follows. The wife ends
up dead, found over a cliff. Unless we missed something it seems highly unlikely
that he pushed her.
The cop Corby (Robert Hossein) is in charge of the investigation and connects
the two cases is sure that both husbands killed their wives. Saccard is constantly
caught in lies while Kimmel knows only lies. The two men become linked and
begin to hate one another. Corby is unrelenting and at times brutal. It is
a clash that has to end badly. But for who. All three are monsters in their
way. All three are also slowly cracking up. Shot elegantly in lovely black
and white, it builds the suspense to the point where you have no idea where
it will land. I am not sure I liked the landing but it was one way to play
it. As in many of Highsmith's writings, the characters have within them lurking
an ability to do evil things. It only takes the right circumstances - greed,
need or a wife that you no longer love. She never married, had lesbian affairs,
was an alcoholic, wrote brilliant books and definitely seems to look upon
marriage as an incubator for murder.
