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Like MISSISSIPPI MERMAID (1969), Truffaut's THE BRIDE WORE BLACK is another adaptation of Cornell Woolrich's pulp fiction, based on his 1940 eponymous novel.

On her wedding day, just outside of the church after the solemnization, the husband of Julie Kohler (Moreau) is shot dead by a stray bullet in front of all the celebrants, which turns an disconsolate Julie into a black widow with a steely vengeance as her last wish on earth. She sets out to snuff five men who are responsible for that accident, one at a time.

Cued by the names of Woodrich - one of his novels is also the source for Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW (1954) - and Bernard Herrmann (whose soundtrack runs to orotundity here) and reckoning with the timing - Truffaut published his influential interview book Hitchcock/Truffaut in 1966 - it is safe to acknowledge that THE BRIDE WORE BLACK is Truffaut's foray into exploring the Hitchcockian tropes, a thriller about an icy-cold femme fatale insinuating her way into exacting multiple homicides after a very personal loss, even on paper, the tension and mystique are palpable.

However, where thrills and chills should've emerged during Julie's death-dealing mission, under Truffaut's superintendence, the temperature never goes to the white heat. What happens is a series of occurrences that often take on a languid pace and show the follies of members of the sterner, like Coral (Bouquet), self-absorbed in his own luck with a woman voluntarily entering his garçonnière, or Clément Morane (Lonsdale), trying to impress Julie by mansplaining politics, or Fergus (Denner), a painter who is well-disposed to rattle on about his lust and what he has the hots for. None of them is remotely aware of the imminent danger from a honey trap. When a pretty woman with an intention to kill, her odds of success seems much more favorable than a forbidding look male.

If a substantial frisson is wanting, and some of Julie's murderous methods are rather far-fetched (locking someone in a closet to die from asphyxiation is a novel idea!), the film nonetheless compensates it with Moreau in one of her most restrained roles. Nearly 40 then and down in the mouth, her beauty starts to fade but Truffaut is sensible enough to arm her with fetching coiffure and attires (exclusively in black or white, sometimes both, designed by Pierre Cardin). Julie is an avenging angel whose heart has died with her beloved husband, Moreau registers that flicker of hesitation when Julie is courted by a seemingly earnest Fergus (Denner is such a hard-hitting seducer, bristling with panache and virility), a glimpse of resuscitated hope reflected in her eyes as if it spawns a seed in her dead heart. The scene sublimely suggests that Julie is offered a new lease on life if she is willing to bury her past, will she take it? Moreau lets that impression go neither unnoticed nor overboard, such blink-and-you-will-miss-it precision is high-wire attainment.

As an experiment, THE BRIDE WORE BLACK doesn't hit all the right marks, for one thing, Julie's indiscriminating precept is too irrational to clarify what makes her tick. But Truffaut, at any rate, offers a colorful palette of male hubris and idiosyncrasy, with Moreau's killer aplomb and cold calculation as its uncharitable exterminator.

referential entries: Truffaut's MISSISSIPPI MERMAID (1969, 6.5/10), STOLEN KISSES (1968, 7.8/10); Jean Becker's ONE DEADLY SUMMER (1983, 7.8/10);

English Title: The Bride Wore Black

Original Title: La mariée était en noir

Year: 1968

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Country: France, Italy

Language: French

Director: François Truffaut

Screenwriters: François Truffaut, Jean-Louis Richard

based on the novel by Cornell Woolrich

Music: Bernard Herrmann

Cinematography: Raoul Coutard

Editor: Claudine Bouché

Cast:

Jeanne Moreau

Michel Bouquet

Jean-Claude Brialy

Charles Denner

Claude Rich

Michael Lonsdale

Daniel Boulanger

Christophe Bruno

Alexandra Stewart

Serge Rousseau

Jacqueline Rouillard

Van Doude

Jacques Robiolles

Rating: 6.8/10