This is How Movies Should Be Made

Strictly average movie

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

We open on a dusk-filled marsh-like field of France. A man is crouched down in position for duck/bird hunting, when from behind him a man approaches and shoots him. Such begins Francois Truffaut's "Confidentially Yours." Fanny Ardant is a secretary who has for some time been in love with her employer. When he is under suspicion by the police for the killing, she sets out to help him. Through a series of Hitchcockian developments and scenarios, they are thrust together. More murders occur, even as he is trying to keep an arm's length away from the police. I thought I had more to say, but this was a very enjoyable film that got more complicated as it went along. At times, it felt very tongue-in-cheek and in others the imminent danger was intense. But make sure you see this (on TV or DVD) with subtitles you can read. The top of the second line was at the bottom of the screen, barely making it readable. Otherwise, a very well-made film with good lead actors and a haunting mysteriousness about it make this a very rewarding experience.

Truffaut did some beautiful movies and this, along with La femme d'à coté, is a favorite. The B&W gives the film ambiance, Fanny Ardent gives the film grace. She's the heart and soul of the film and is in very good company. The plot is smart and full of twists - will keep you hooked to the end. What initially appears to be another passion crime unfolds into the secret relationships of the deceased, into the underworld, and into the many abilities of a secretary that happens to be in love with the boss. The movie is very instigating in showing a feminist approach to crime solving, where, surprisingly, the heroin is ready to stand rather strong abuse. Well worth bearing the legends if you can't handle French.

This was Truffaut's last film. Didn't he die of a brain tumor? His health was evident in this film. If you watch with the intent of finding insight into his relationship with Ardant, this film is vaguely interesting. As an homage to Hitchcock, this film does not measure up.Fanny Ardant is beautiful in her leggy, tall girl way. Jean-Louis Trintignant is short, older, and in possession of a mature attraction that men sometimes fall into in their forties and fifties. The chemistry between them is as fiery as the spark between a sponge and a pencil.The story, in all of its contrivance, is inconsistently humorous and does not near Hitchcock's tongue-in-cheek.If you are a Fanny Ardant fan, you will see her walk, run, walk some more, drive, walk, fall, run a little bit, walk some more...another name for this film could very well be, "Walk, Fanny, Walk". She is stunning, none-the-less and, as a result, the only thing worth watching. If you like her, you'll like seeing her in this film.

I was a bit disappointed by this movie. I expected a complex drama in the Hitchcock style but I got a mediocre story more like a Hitchcock TV presentation. It isn't a bad movie. It's more a vehicle for Fanny Ardant. She is a pleasure to watch and listen to. Jean-Louis Trintignant was also good. The writing wasn't all that great. The plot was simplistic and some scenes were clunky.