Yesterday evening I watched Les Granges Brûlées (1973); English translation The Burned Barns; starring Alain Delon and Simone Signoret, on TV5MONDE.
In the middle of the night, two truckers find a dead body of a young woman, in the snow-covered countryside of the Haut-Doubs, near the region of Mont d’Or, in France. The body is found at close proximity to the Granges Brûlées farm, owned by a very tough, brawny woman named Rose (Simone Signoret), and her family. A magistrate, Judge Pierre Larcher (Alain Delon) is sent to investigate. The Judge’s suspicions fall on Rose’s family, especially her two sons, Louis (Pierre Rousseau) and Paul (Bernard Le Coq). With lots of twists and turns, we discover lot of family secrets. The two married sons are capable of everything from stealing, cheating, lying, adultery et al; BUT are they even capable of murder????
A very well told story, moving in a slow pace, without unnecessarily being rushed, with an interesting twist in the end and a very unpredictable ending. In the beginning of the movie we see a very close knit, clannish, family, but by the time the murder is solved, we see the whole family torn apart with all their unexpected secrets exposed. Especially Rose, we find her distort, after discovering many unacceptable behavioural patterns within her family. Especially, when it comes to her sons and her daughter-in-law, Monique (Miou Miou), all of whom, seem to have blemishes on their moral records by the end. This French classic is beautifully directed by Jean Chapot, with a great background music track by French composer Jean-Michel André Jarre. Both Alain Delon and Simone Signoret are exceptional in their respective roles. Such a skilfully made movie, with the snow covered backdrop, symbolising the isolation of the cold landscapes, reflecting on the various characters isolation within the Granges Brûlées farm, where the three youngsters, Rose’s two son’s and daughter, Françoise (played by Signoret’s real life daughter, Catherine Allégret) and Monique, all prefer to escape the beautiful mountains towards city life. Only, Rose and her husband, Pierre (Paul Crauchet), their other daughter-in-law Lucile (Béatrice Costantini) and the little grandchildren, seem content with their lives up there.
An Excellent Alain Delon/Simone Signoret venture worth checking out. 10/10
Nuwan Sen’s Film Sense
No Nonsense with Nuwan Sen 
Sounds pretty fantastic. I might look into this one.
Great review.
Thanks!
Yes, it was. Hope you find it, and love it as much as I did 🙂 .
Interesting review and a perfect rating, this must be good!
You must be one of a very small number of people who’ve been lucky enough to watch The Burned Barns. I’ve just been looking on The IMDb and Letterboxd and I can only find two reviews for this film.
Is it available on DVD or Blu-ray?
I’m not sure about Blu-ray, but it ought to be available on DVD at least.
Hope you find it and enjoy watching it. Good luck!!
Wow! 10/10. Never heard of this. Thanks, I will add it to my list of must-sees. 🙂
Thanks!! At least for me it was 10/10, especially due to the unexpected the ending.
Best thing is the interesting character sketches, and the other secrets that come out, more than the murder itself.
Have not seen this. I’ ‘ll let you know….
Hope you find it.
Good luck!
10/10! I’ll have to check It out Nuwan! Cheers!
Thanks! Hope you like it. For me it was a 10/10.
Warning though it’s a very slow movie, but a good movie, worth watching.
Sounds intriguing! Now I just have to find some time to watch it 🙂
Hope you enjoy it too.
But what is the meaning of the title? Does it have something to do with WWII, The French Resistance? The judge has an intense reaction the one time it’s mentioned, but it not clear why.
I saw this movie over eight years ago, as you can see the date on my Blog, so I don’t recall what you are talking about at the moment! But now am intrigued, should check it out again!!
That was so hurried and tossed in at the last minute. Unsatisfactory.
OK! I loved it when I watched it!
Thanks for the visit!