Solitude Stands by the Window
Directed by Patrice Leconte
Starring Michel Blanc, Sandrine Bonnaire, André Wilms
Released May 24th, 1989
Rated PG-13
Featuring coarse language, dead bodies, and a scene with bare breasts, Monsieur Hire is not a PG-13 film that is appropriate for younger viewers. This didn’t deter my mother from taking me to see it on the big screen when I was eleven years old. I remember a lot about the overall experience of going to the screening. This was the first foreign film I would watch in my life, and the first film with subtitles that I would see outside of the Star Wars films. Given my young age, there were themes in the film that I did not fully understand, but I was struck by how different it was than anything else I had seen up until that point. I immediately considered Monsieur Hire to be the most adult and important film that I had ever seen.
When the Cohen Film Collection (via Kino Lorber) announced they were releasing the film on Blu-ray, I jumped at the chance to review the disc. I hadn’t seen the film in thirty-five years, and I only really remembered its somber tone. I wasn’t sure what the story was, or what happened in the denouement. It was a treat to be able to see the film as an adult, watching it with fresh eyes, as if for the first time.
The murder of a girl leads an aging detective (André Milms) to the storefront of Monsieur Hire (Michel Blanc), a tailor. A self-proclaimed misanthrope, the reclusive Hire is distrusted by his neighbors, making him an attractive suspect in the detective’s eyes. Hire spends his days feeding pigeons in the park. He is surprisingly good at bowling. He takes care of his pet rats. He visits a brothel but seems uninterested in the ladies there. The highlight of his day is when he can put on a certain piece of music by Brahams while he surreptitiously watches his neighbor’s life unfold through her window in the building across the street.
This neighbor is a beautiful young woman named Alice (Sandrine Bonnaire). She discovers him watching her one day, but after her initial shock, doesn’t seem to mind. It seems she’s intrigued by his obsession with her. So begins their strange relationship. The scent of her perfume, a slight touch on the arm, these are the moments they share. Complicating matters is Alice’s fiancé Emile (Luc Thuillier), a handsome man who is caught up in some manner of trouble. Any film concerning voyeurism indicts the audience along with its subjects, and Monsieur Hire is no exception. At a boxing match Emile is watching the boxers, Alice is watching Emile, Hire is watching Alice, and we are watching all of them.
Adapted for the screen and directed by Patrice Leconte, Monsieur Hire is based on a novel by Georges Simenon, the creator of the famed Inspector Maigret. The editing choices by Leconte and editor Joëlle Hache are spectacular, taking us directly to the middle of happenstances, effectively creating an immediacy that moves the story along in a brisk eighty minutes. Michael Nyman’s plaintive score immerses the viewer in Hire’s world of unrequited feelings. I would love to have this music on vinyl, but sadly Nyman’s wonderful work has yet to have a full soundtrack release.
The Kino Lorber Blu-ray sports a 4K remaster that makes the film look brand new, with high contrast on skin tone that achieves a warm effect. The special features include the film’s trailer, featurettes with Leconte and Bonnaire, and an audio commentary from film critic Wade Major. A contemplative film bookended by death; Monsieur Hire is a French thriller I am proud to have in my collection. A sad tale told exceptionally well.