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      Just Before Nightfall

      1971 1h 40m Drama List
      Reviews 81% Audience Score Fewer than 50 Ratings An advertising executive is having an affair with his best friend's wife. When he accidentally strangles his lover, he struggles to decide if he should turn himself in to the police after their investigation goes cold. Read More Read Less

      Critics Reviews

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      Jacoba Atlas Los Angeles Free Press [Director] Claude Chabrol is a master at showing the macabre murkiness that lies just below the surface of ordinary lives. Nov 22, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      Tic Toc M Like much of his work, it's so visually great and the mood so weird that you can't stop watching (or at least I couldn't). My favorite film of his is "Les Biches". I don't rank this as high but it's another late 60s/early 70s, super stylish, gorgeous looking Chabrol film. The clothes in this movie are fantastic, as is the production design. If you like Chabrol, you'll definitely find plenty to like in this one. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 09/04/23 Full Review Audience Member It's rather ghoulish in the end, but Claude Chabrol's film maintains suspense all the way through - despite the fact that we know that Michel Bouquet is the murderer from the first moments. Bouquet and Stephane Audran also starred as husband and wife in Chabrol's earlier, excellent The Unfaithful Wife, and this is something of a reprise or rejoinder. Audran was Chabrol's wife at the time and this period of his career saw a lot of exceptional thrillers in the Hitchcockian mode. Chabrol and Eric Rohmer had earlier written a famous book about Hitch, focusing on his Catholic interest in guilt - and guilt also takes center stage in Just Before Nightfall. You see, despite no suspicion falling on him, Bouquet just can't live with himself after the possibly accidental death of his friend's wife during S&M play. He just wants to blurt out that he's the killer - this leads to a great deal of suspense. Somehow, though, you just can't see that ending coming. But it is entirely consistent with Chabrol's wicked sense of humor. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member chabrol's films provide some darn interesting character studies. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Audience Member (*** 1/2): [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img] Well-acted and directed. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member had heard very good things from this film by monsieur chabrol. however, i was somewhat disappointed with it. a littel too slow for my liking. i did enjoy the beach scenes, particulary the pram being pushed as helene gazes out to sea. the ending was also very satisfying. oh, and ms. audran's eyes: spectacular. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Strange how a film involving a cheating husband can invoke feelings of intense sympathy and sadness for said adulterer; Bouquet's muted performance is numbing and often harrowing. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Just Before Nightfall

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis An advertising executive is having an affair with his best friend's wife. When he accidentally strangles his lover, he struggles to decide if he should turn himself in to the police after their investigation goes cold.
      Director
      Claude Chabrol
      Screenwriter
      Claude Chabrol, Edouard Atiyah
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      English
      Runtime
      1h 40m