
This Man Must Die

When his young son is killed in a hit and run accident, Charles Thenier resolves to hunt down and murder the killer. By chance, Thenier makes the acquaintance of an actress, Helène Lanson, who was in the car at the time of the accident. He then meets Helène’s brother-in-law, Paul Decourt, a truly horrible individual.
Claude Chabrol uses the detective novel by Nicholas Blake aka Cecil Day-Lewis as a pretext to carry out a study on the nature of revenge, and a critique of the French bourgeoisie, portrayed in a false theatrical staging that he will later develop in "La cérémonie" (1995). The result maintains the essence of the original book, focusing on the father dehumanized by the thirst for revenge and on that despotic figure who considers his own guilt inconsequential.