Masks (1987 film)
{{short description|1987 film}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Masks
| image = Masques-poster.jpg
| caption = Film poster
| director = Claude Chabrol
| producer = Marin Karmitz
| writer = Odile Barski
Claude Chabrol
| starring = Philippe Noiret
Robin Renucci
| music =
| cinematography = Jean Rabier
| editing = Monique Fardoulis
| distributor =
| released = {{film date|1987|2|11|df=yes}}
| runtime = 100 minutes
| country = France
| language = French
}}
Masks ({{langx|fr|Masques}}) is a 1987 French mystery thriller film directed by Claude Chabrol. It was entered into the 37th Berlin International Film Festival.{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1987/02_programm_1987/02_Programm_1987.html |title=Berlinale: 1987 Programme |access-date=28 February 2011 |work=berlinale.de}}
Plot
Talent show host Christian Legagneur hires a young reporter, Roland Wolf, to write his biography. However, Wolf has ulterior motives - he is also investigating his sister's disappearance.
Cast
- Philippe Noiret as Christian Legagneur
- Robin Renucci as Roland Wolf
- Bernadette Lafont as Patricia, La masseuse / The masseuse
- Monique Chaumette as Colette, la secrétaire / The secretary
- Anne Brochet as Catherine
- Roger Dumas as Manu
- Pierre-François Dumeniaud as Max
- Pierre Nougaro as Gustave
- Renée Dennsy as Émilie
- Yvonne Décade as Antoinette
- Blanche Ariel as Rosette
- René Marjac as Maurice
- Paul Vally as Henry
- Denise Pezzani as Mme Lemonier
Reception
The film received mixed reviews. Time Out said "Chabrol frames the verbal sparring with characteristic precision, but the subtle plot suffers from a surfeit of politesse and a dearth of red-blooded passion."{{Cite web|url=https://www.timeout.com/london/film/masques|title=Masques 1987, directed by Claude Chabrol {{!}} Film review|website=Time Out London|date=10 September 2012 |language=en|access-date=9 September 2019}} The New York Times called it "something practically unheard of in the vast Chabrol filmography: a thriller that satisfies the audience's expectations of a thriller, even including the childlike hope that good will be rewarded and evil punished", and added "although the suspense is skillfully engineered, you can't help feeling Mr. Chabrol's boredom with it."{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/movies/30raff.html|title=Chabrol is a Master of the Thriller (Hold the Thrills)|last=Rafferty|first=Terrence|date=30 July 2006|website=The New York Times|access-date=9 September 2019}} Jonathan Rosenbaum said it was "good, serviceable, quasi-Hitchcockian fun", but not especially memorable.{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/french-provincial/Content?oid=873910|title=French Provincial|last=Rosenbaum|first=Jonathan|date=25 May 1989|website=Chicago Reader|language=en|access-date=10 September 2019}} Craig Williams on the BFI site was more positive: "The idea of the bourgeois mask concealing murderous impulses is prevalent throughout the director’s work, but there’s a streak of self-awareness in Masques... that marks this as one of his best films of the 80s."{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/claude-chabrol-10-essential-films|title=Claude Chabrol: 10 essential films|website=British Film Institute|language=en|access-date=9 September 2019}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|id=0093505|title=Masks}}
{{Claude Chabrol}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masks}}
Category:1987 crime thriller films
Category:French crime thriller films
Category:1980s French-language films
Category:Films directed by Claude Chabrol
Category:Films about entertainers
Category:Films set in country houses
Category:Films about journalists