Someone Behind the Door

Back in the good old days, before the success of "Death Wish" forced him into playing the same role of the angry vigilante over and over again, Charles Bronson was a fine, versatile actor; in this 1971 film, he actually plays the victim of a larger scheme (though he does some victimizing of his own, too), and he's the best - if not the only - reason to see this otherwise static, plodding thriller. Anthony Perkins disappoints as the slightly deranged brain surgeon. The version I saw was in French, though the actors clearly spoke English on the set; this only added to the strangeness of the experience. Oh, and good luck to anyone trying to figure out what the title has to do with anything else. (**)

French shot/English speaking psychological thriller mirroring François Truffaut mirroring Alfred Hitchcock has a perfectly cast Anthony Perkins as a neurosurgeon taking an amnesiac patient to his plush home in order to (supposedly) help the nameless stranger, played by an only slightly miscast Charles Bronson, pacing taut and timid like a caged beast during his pre-fame European Phase...

But this is really Perkins' ride, providing another hiding-a-dark-secret creepy guy role...

And from the mellow cadence, what could have been cat-and-mouse is more like mouse-and-mouse, or mouse and toothless cat, even during Bronson's sporadic tantrums in a noirish plot involving Jill Ireland as the doc's cheating wife (employing a cute Agathe Natanson as their maid, who'd have fit the ingenue role much better)...

It's no irony that both Bronson and Perkins are ultimately best remembered playing killers the audience sympathizes with, and director Nicolas Gessner uses effective zoom shots and strategic camera angles/setups to the advantage of this "chessboard mystery" (mainly involving one set) where both antagonist and protagonist seem equally sinister and vulnerable...

And despite SOMEONE BEHIND THE WINDOW wielding an art-house short film plot-line stretched to 90-minutes, it doesn't drag either way.

Average thriller of a psychological nature about Anthony Perkins as a brain specialist finding amnesiac Charles Bronson and convincing him that his wife is his wife and is having an affair - all the while having a real affair. This is Perkin's way of dealing with the messy affair. There is quite a bit of plodding here as well as some leaps of logic in the script that are not easily believed. Perkins and Bronson are able to create convincing enough characters to make it work relatively well. Perkins plays the malevolent, to a large degree impotent(of taking command of the situation)doctor with his customary workmanlike manner. Bronson does get to act and though looks a little too lost at times fares well enough too. Lovely Jill Ireland plays the good doctor's sexy wife but does little for her role or the film other than looking quite appealing. The end is really not effective as it leaves no real resolution to any of the plot strands revealed. The director does have some obvious talent and the film moves briskly mercifully.

Bronson's fans would be very surprised ,had they the opportunity to see this Nicolas Gessner movie.He's not here the he-man they expect.He plays an amnesiac,caught like a fly in a cobweb by shrink Perkins.In this kind of thriller ,Perkins' "psycho prestige" works and it makes the audience feel he's watching a Hitchcock ersatz-which is not that much bad after all,a Hitchcock ersatz may be much better than a genuine X....... thriller.The main problem lies in the fact that most of the time,it seems like a filmed stage production.Hitchcock could easily get away with such works as "the rope " or "dial M for murder".Gessner has not his genius and his directing becomes sometimes ponderous. Hitchcok's lessons will be much better applied on "sleuth" ,Mankiewicz's triumph the following year,and to a lesser degree,on Penn's "dead of winter" (1987).

Late Jill Ireland plays the female part ,as it was often the case in those days,as far Bronson movies were concerned.Nicolas Gessner continued his work with American actors on his follow-up which would be a long time coming (late seventies) "la petite fille au bout du chemin" (the little girl who lives down the lane)and featured Jodie Foster and Martin Sheen.It was probably his best .Then he worked abroad without great success.His most notable work was for French TV "le château des oliviers " (early nineties,with Brigitte Fossey)which gained the audience's approval.

Two legendary movie stars make the most of the situation in this enjoyable, if not exactly that believable, drama. Anthony Perkins is Laurence Jefferies, a neurosurgeon working in Britain who intends to do something about his cheating wife Frances (Jill Ireland, a.k.a. Mrs. Charles Bronson). He realizes that an amnesiac (Bronson) whom he's just met will make the perfect patsy. All he has to do is convince the stranger that Frances is *his* wife, lay out evidence of the affair, and let the stranger get revenge on behalf of him.

The script (adapted from a novel by Jacques Robert) may not exactly be airtight, but the set-up is still pretty irresistible. Director Nicolas Gessner ("The Little Girl Who Lived Down the Lane") handles things in capable if not overly stylish fashion. Part of the effectiveness stems from enjoying the machinations of this doctor, and how he's spent so much time working on solving his problem. True enough that he may be tops in his field, but as we can see, he's been a highly inadequate husband. Perkins is so much fun to watch in this antagonistic role.

But any fan of Bronson will find this particularly compelling since Bronson is not a macho man of action, but a highly suggestible and vulnerable character (who doesn't even receive a proper name). Ireland delivers one of her better performances as the wife; good support is provided by Henri Garcin as the lover, Adriano Magistretti as Jefferies' brother-in-law, Agathe Natanson as Lucy, and Colin Mann as the police sergeant.

The conclusion to the film may come as disappointing to some viewers, since very little is resolved, but others may find it intriguing that the film ends with a question mark. (All those cuts, back and forth, between two of the main characters get annoying quickly, however.)

Thankfully, "Someone Behind the Door" is over and done in a reasonable amount of time, so at least it doesn't go on longer than it really should.

Seven out of 10.