O Crime das Granjas Queimadas

This odd pairing had already happened once the year before with "la veuve Couderc" ,a George Simenon adaptation ,with fair results.

Like the first one,"les granges brulées " (=the burned barns :nothing burns in the movie ,mind you,it's the name of Signoret's farm)takes place in a rural area ,to be precise in the Jura Mountains,in the Franche-Comté.Signoret is cast again as a tough farmer who dominates her whole family (her daughter is played by her own daughter Catherine Allégret).A woman's corpse is found near the farm.And a judge (Delon) comes to the place to investigate .The family provides the usual suspects and on with the show.

Well,the detective plot is never exciting and its solution devoid of interest.What matters is the depiction of the family's clannishness (which Jacques Becker had brilliantly tackled in "Goupi Main Rouges" thirty years before ),the beautiful snow-covered landscapes and the young ones 'longing to leave their native mountains for the city.Delon and Signoret are both good and give sensitive performances.But most people think they did a better job in "la veuve Couderc".Nice score by Jean-Michel Jarre.