''Eaux profondes'' is a 1981 French
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
directed by
Michel Deville
Michel Deville (born 13 April 1931) is a French film director and screenwriter.
Deville started his filmmaking career in the late 1950s, paralleling the emergence of the French New Wave directors. He never achieved the level of critical and int ...
that stars
Isabelle Huppert
Isabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert (; born 16 March 1953) is a French actress. Described as "one of the best actresses in the world", she is known for her portrayals of cold and disdainful characters devoid of morality. She is the recipient of sev ...
and
Jean-Louis Trintignant
Jean-Louis Xavier Trintignant (; 11 December 1930 – 17 June 2022) was a French actor. He made his theatrical debut in 1951, and went on to be regarded as one of the best French dramatic actors of the post-war era. He starred in many classic fi ...
.
Based on the novel ''
Deep Water'' by
Patricia Highsmith
Patricia Highsmith (January 19, 1921 – February 4, 1995) was an American novelist and short story writer widely known for her psychological thrillers, including her series of five novels featuring the character Tom Ripley.
She wrote 22 novel ...
, it tells the story of a man who regains his wife's affections by killing two of her lovers.
Plot
On the island of Jersey, the perfumier Vic and his wife Mélanie are an ideal couple. Living in a grand house, they entertain often and mix with all the important people. Mélanie has however taken to provoking Vic at parties by flirting outrageously with other men, so Vic warns them off by saying that he was the murderer of a missing man.
Mélanie then starts bringing random men home to drink and dance with her, until Vic eventually goes to bed alone in disgust. When she picks up Carlo, a hotel employee, and takes him to an exclusive party, Vic has had enough. After everybody has had a dip in the swimming pool, just Carlo is left and Vic drowns him. The verdict of the inquest is accidental death, though Mélanie claims at the hearing that it was murder by Vic. When soon after she brings home yet another lover, this time Vic researches the man, finding that he is a private investigator hired by Mélanie to keep an eye on him. When the man's cover is blown, he leaves fast.
Vic then receives a visitor, a man named Cameron who sells perfumes in the USA, and Mélanie makes an immediate play for him. After she tells Vic one morning that she is leaving with Cameron, driving into town he sees the man and asks him into the car to discuss things. Going to an isolated spot, after bludgeoning Cameron to death and wrapping and trussing the body, he tips it off a high cliff into the sea. Investigating the unexplained disappearance of a man who had not paid his hotel bill, the police question Vic as the last person to see him and then close the file for lack of evidence. Mélanie now realises that he has killed two men to get closer to her and starts a reconciliation.
Cast
*
Isabelle Huppert
Isabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert (; born 16 March 1953) is a French actress. Described as "one of the best actresses in the world", she is known for her portrayals of cold and disdainful characters devoid of morality. She is the recipient of sev ...
as Mélanie
*
Jean-Louis Trintignant
Jean-Louis Xavier Trintignant (; 11 December 1930 – 17 June 2022) was a French actor. He made his theatrical debut in 1951, and went on to be regarded as one of the best French dramatic actors of the post-war era. He starred in many classic fi ...
as Vic
*
Sandrine Kljajic as their daughter Marion
*
Éric Frey as Denis Miller
*
Christian Benedetti as Carlo Canelli
*
Bruce Myers as Cameron
*
Bertrand Bonvoisin as Robert Carpentier
*
Jean-Luc Moreau as Joël
*
Robin Renucci
Robin Renucci (born 11 July 1956, in Le Creusot, Saône-et-Loire) is a French film and television actor and film director.
Acting filmography
* '' Eaux profondes'' (1981) : ''Ralph''
* ''Les Misérables'' (1982) : ''Courfeyrac''
* '' Invitatio ...
as Ralph
*
Philippe Clévenot as Henri Valette
*
Martine Costes as La maman de Julie
*
Évelyne Didi
Évelyne Didi is a French actress. She has appeared in more than thirty films since 1978.
Selected filmography
References
External links
*
Living people
French film actresses
French television actresses
Year of birth missing (living ...
as Evelyn Cowan
*
Jean-Michel Dupuis
Jean-Michel Dupuis (born in 1955) is a French theatre, TV and film actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern me ...
as Philip Cowan
*
Bernard Freyd as Havermal
*
Anne Head as La directrice
*
Maurice Jacquemont Maurice may refer to:
People
*Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr
*Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor
*Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and Lo ...
as Docteur Franklin
*
Sylvie Orcier
Sylvie may refer to:
* ''Sylvie'' (novel), an 1853 novel by Gérard de Nerval
* Sylvie (actress) (1883–1970), French actress
* Sylvie (band), a Canadian rock band from Regina, active in the 2000s
* ''Sylvie'' (album), a 1962 album by Sylvie Va ...
as Jeanne Miller
*
Pierre Vial as Le juge
See also
* ''
Deep Water'' (2022)
*
List of Isabelle Huppert performances
References
External links
*
1981 films
1980s psychological thriller films
1980s French-language films
French psychological thriller films
Police detective films
Films based on American novels
Films based on works by Patricia Highsmith
Films directed by Michel Deville
Gaumont Film Company films
1980s French films
{{psychological-thriller-film-stub