Panique

Even without out a Vertigo zoom, several motifs and sequences in the film are unavoidably reminiscent of Hitchcock’s later study in disorientation. Yet Monsieur Hire doesn’t feel weak because of vertigo, but rather as a result of the sneaky smear campaign that his neighbors are conducting against the unapproachable misanthrope. It is his difference – Hire (Michel Simon) is an anti-social, contemptuous, solitary figure – which makes his surroundings suspicious following a murder in the neighborhood. Duvivier’s first directorial work after returning to France can be read as an allegory of the behavior of his landspeople during the Second World War. (mg)