''The Third Lover'' (french: L'Œil du malin), also titled ''The Eye of Evil'', is a 1962 French–Italian
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Claude Chabrol
Claude Henri Jean Chabrol (; 24 June 1930 – 12 September 2010) was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave (''nouvelle vague'') group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues an ...
.
It tells the story of a French journalist in Southern Germany who befriends a novelist and his wife and gradually begins to destroy the couple's lives.
Plot
Albin, a solitary French journalist, is sent to Germany to write an article on noted novelist Andreas Hartmann, who lives in a village outside
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
. Albin rents a flat in the same village and, through Hartmann's French wife Hélène, becomes acquainted with the writer and successively the couple's friend. Obsessed to find the dark spot behind their seemingly harmonious marriage, he makes advances to Hélène and, after she tactfully rejects him, spies upon her, convinced that she has an affair. He finally succeeds to detect Hélène and her lover and takes compromising photographs, which he presents to her. Hélène pretends that Andreas knows of her affair but asks Albin not to show the pictures to her husband, explaining that their marriage gave both a mainstay after living a life of instability. Albin confronts Andreas with the photographs, who in a fit of rage stabs Hélène to death and then turns himself over to the police. Trying to find redemption for his scheme, Albin accuses himself for being responsible for Hélène's death, but is ignored by the police. In the final
voice-over
Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-Diegetic#Film sound and music, diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, th ...
, Albin states that he was unable to find work as a journalist afterwards.
Cast
*
Jacques Charrier
Jacques Charrier (born 6 November 1936) is a French actor in both film and the theater, a film producer, and an artist in painting and ceramics. He was married to film actress Brigitte Bardot from 1959 to 1963.
Biography
In 1980 he returned to ...
as Albin Mercier
*
Walter Reyer as Andreas Hartmann
*
Stéphane Audran
Stéphane Audran (born Colette Suzanne Dacheville; 8 November 1932 – 27 March 2018) was a French actress. She was known for her performances in award-winning films such as ''The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie'' (1972) and ''Babette's Feast'' ...
as Hélène
*
Daniel Boulanger as the Commissioner
Production and reception
''The Third Lover'' was written by Chabrol and
Paul Gégauff
Paul Gégauff (10 August 1922 – 24 December 1983) was a French screenwriter, actor, and director. He collaborated with director Claude Chabrol on 14 films. Among his films are ''Les Biches'', ''Plein Soleil'' and the autobiographical '' Une ...
under their mutual pseudonym Matthieu Martial
and shot on a modest budget.
It met with condescending reviews upon its 1962 release
and turned out a financial failure.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Third Lover, The
1962 films
Films shot in Germany
French crime drama films
Italian crime drama films
Films directed by Claude Chabrol
1962 crime drama films
Films set in West Germany
1960s French films
1960s Italian films
Films with screenplays by Paul Gégauff