A speeding car accidentally hits and kills a boy on the street and flees. The boy's father, Charles, vows revenge at the unknown perpetrator, writing it down in his diary, yet the police is unable to find any leads. One day, while his car gets stuck in mud, Charles meets a farmer who claims to have seen a nervous driver right on the day of the accident, and identifies his companion as actress Helene Lanson. Charles meets and befriends Helene, falsely identifiying as a writer who plans a script with a lead role for her. He travels to her hometown, where he meets her brother-in-law Paul, a terrible brute who is detested even by his teenage son Philippe. Charles finds out Paul was indeed the driver who killed his son. Charles wants to kill Paul in a boat trip, but Paul reveals a gun, and thus Charles and Helene leave the town. However, they return when they hear the news Paul was poisoned. The police suspect Charles due to his diary, but Philippe steps forward, admitting he killed his own father.
Another subtle, calm and sophisticated crime-thriller drama by the French Hitchcock, Claude Chabrol, "This Man Must Die" suffers from an overstretched running time, but even its seemingly "empty walks" scenes later on turn out to have a justification and purpose in the final act, since they play a role (for instance, the "throw away" scene of the villain Paul drinking some bitter throat medicine from the bathroom). The movie starts off strong: an unknown driver and a woman (whose faces are never shown) hit and kill a boy on the street with their car, and then flee. The boy's father, Charles, thus starts the first line of the film with this narration: "I will kill a man. I know neither his name, address nor looks. But I'll find and kill him." The storyline follows his random search without any clue, but thanks to a random lucky chance, he is able to track down the perpetrator. Even though the movie's mood is surprisingly calm and tranquil, it is at the same time equally as disturbing and "subtly suspenseful" as it follows Charles showing remarkable restraint as he talks and gets to know the perpetrator, Paul. Chabrol refuses to lead Charles on the easy path: just as they are above a hill with the whole beach below in the background (filmed with a great claustrophobic wide lens), Paul suddenly trips and remains hanging from the cliff, crying for help—should Charles simply let him fall down to his death or help him climb up, since other people could see him? Several twists gives the story spark, and thus the viewers are never quite sure how a situation might unravel—just as Charles finally has Paul all alone for himself in the sea, on a boat, and thinks the revenge is so close, Paul suddenly reveals a gun, turning the tables, since he read Charles' diary. It all could have been more intense, but Chabrol's intent was always to rather explore layers of human characters, good and bad, in the society, done in the typical European calm way.
Grade:+++
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