Wages of Fear (1953)

Location: Home (DVD)
Seen Before: Yes
Rating: 5.0

My favorite H. G. Clouzot film after Diabolique, this film, to me, as an epic that doesn't deal with epic issues (the anti-epic?). I love to hate Jo and find it interesting how his character, along with Mario (Montand rules even if the folks on the Clouzot documentary said he wasn't so hot as an actor in these early years), not only change, but as the viewer you begin to see them totally differently. Vera Clouzot is wonderfully beautiful in this film, even if she was only cast because she and H. G. were hitched.

Speaking of H. G.--what a director; the French Hitchcock. The back of the dvd claims this is one of the most tension-filled pieces ever commited to celluloid and, after seeing this the first time and thinking about that comment, I thought it to be a little much. While watching this second time, however, I realized just how tense my arms and fists became as Clouzot presented me with such tense moments and sequences. That pressure in this film sneaks up on you so you don't know it's happening until the characters have barely survived--then you exhale when you didn't even know you were holding your breath. Despite the unnecessarily gloomy ending, this is a masterpiece.