Review of Juste Avant La Nuit (aka: Just Before Night Fall)

Introduction

Charles (Michel Bouquet) is having an affair with Laura, the wife of his best mate François (François Périer). Laura is into some kinky stuff, and one night one of their games goes wrong, leaving her dead. Charles tries to come to terms with what has happened with the help of his wife Hélène (Stéphane Audran, who was also Chabrol`s wife at the time). Will Charles, unable to bear the guilt, finally confess to the crime? What will happen if he does?

Video

Oh dear. Back to the usual 1.66:1 non-anamorphic transfer, a let down after the anamorphic transfer on Nada. It`s old, it`s dirty, it`s grainy and a bit hazy from time to time. It`s a bad example of the sort of transfer you`d expect from 1970s French cinema (the transfer on Nada was better than this).

Audio

A DD2.0 stereo soundtrack, which is the original French mono soundtrack replayed over both channels. It`s plagued by little hisses and pops, but is generally clear and audible most of the time. Another bad example of what you would expect from 1970s French cinema.

Features

Like Nada, there`s nada here.

Conclusion

After the departure from the norm that was Nada, here we get an archetypal Chabrol film, picking holes in the middle classes, concentrating not on the crime that has been committed but on the way that so many people in the society he detests will just accept what has happened and try to cope with it without confronting it. In this, his 22nd film, Chabrol is still attacking society, and sometimes it`s a bit too much.

I preferred Nada, because it was such an atypical Chabrol film. All this middle class bashing is a bit too heavy handed at times. Despite essentially being a film about emotions, it is often emotionless and leaves you cold.

The DVD itself is not the greatest, with a distinctly average picture, average sound, and further let down by the complete lack of extras. Chabrol fans will probably enjoy it, more casual viewers might want to stay away.