In 1940s, due to the widespread commercial as well critical success of his thriller films, the undisputed master of French cinema, Henri Georges Clouzot was dubbed "The Gallic Hitchcock" by Anglophone press. However, after his demise, this title was not transferred to any other French director for a long time as nobody had the ability to come closer to the cinematographic vision which Clouzot shared with Hitchcock. By directing "Monsieur Hire", an ambitiously intelligent thriller based on "Les Fiançailles De Monsieur Hire" written by Belgian thriller writer Georges Simenon, Patrice Leconte showed true signs of being considered for this coveted title. "Monsieur Hire" was Leconte's first foray into the world of suspense thriller as his earlier films were all comedies meant to tickle viewers' funny bones in France. One still remembers with avid interest "Les Bronzés" which continues to make French cinema audiences laugh out loud at their own idiosyncrasies. Monsieur Hire is a superb study in alienation where voyeurism makes its presence felt at regular intervals. At this juncture, it needs to be mentioned that in no way does voyeurism preempt the film's main theme which concerns the price one pays for unrequited love. The character of "Monsieur Hire" undergoes numerous changes as in the past it was depicted in a completely different manner to suit tastes of a bygone era. This is one reason why there is a huge difference between a bearded "Monsieur Hire" as portrayed by one of French cinema's greatest actors-Michel Simon in "Panique" (1946) directed by Julien Duvivier as opposed to a bald "Monsieur Hire" as represented by Michel Blanc in this film.

This unpleasant little movie is partly redeemed by the beautiful Sandrine Bonnaire, but not by her character. What we have here is a story about a voyeur who regularly spies on a young woman across the street (Bonnaire). The young woman lives her life behind a generously sized window in full view of the voyeur (Michel Blanc). She never bothers to pull down a shade. She dresses and undresses in full view. She entertains her lover in full view (though they seem to have sex in another room. The voyeur improbably falls in love with her and she improbably contacts him soon after she discovers in a lightning storm that she's being watched by a man in the apartment building across the street. He's a completely unsympathetic character. I did not feel the slightest impulse to feel sorry for him. The behavior of the young woman is, in my mind, incomprehensible. Although "explained" at the very end by an unexpected plot twist which I will refrain from describing, her behavior apparently depends on her belief that he knows things about her and her lover that simply could not be divined through a curtain-less window. Movie-goers are accustomed to plots that are overly dependent on coincidence, and perhaps there are viewers who willingly suspend disbelief in films that rely on motives that are beyond flimsy. I can live with the former (for example, in movies based on the writings of Charles Dickens, which are packed with coincidence), but I have no tolerance for films that rely on plot elements that are totally unconvincing A romance between the all-knowing and unattractive voyeur and the much younger, beautiful, spied-upon victim? C'mon.

Having read some of the negative reviews regarding this film, I think the first thing to make clear here is that there is no point in watching this film if your idea of a perfect movie is Jurassic Park or The Da Vinci Code.This is a film that focuses not on the story itself, but more on the characters and the emotions that reside within them. The above mentioned films take an idea for a story (a dinosaur filled wildlife park or a mysterious religious secret) and then devise a plot which is by far and away beyond what would ever happen in the real world.In contrast, Monsieur Hire takes a story in which very little happens: A man is suspected of a murder. The man is a reclusive misfit, devoid of charm or humour, but he harbours a love for a woman he has never even met: a woman he knows only through seeing her from his apartment window. Unlike the aforementioned films, the plot, from beginning to end, can be summarised within just a few sentences. But it is what is behind the plot which makes this movie incredible. It is the notion of love which drives the film.The acting and directing show passion that is more intense and sexual than anything I have seen, yet it does so without even a hint of what you would expect from a film described as "intense" and "sexual". The intensity of the love shown by the protagonist is beyond anything that one would have seen before, and yet it is far from the purity that one would normally associate with such an emotion. Indeed, it is dark and tense, and due to the questionable character of its object, one is left in turmoil as to whether this love is to be admired, pitied or instead viewed as just desserts for a man of his nature.Those who have scored this low on the basis that the characters do not conduct themselves in a "believable way" confound me. The whole point of a film is that it takes you away from the everyday scenario. Most movies show you fairly ordinary people involved in extraordinary stories. This one shows you extraordinary characters involved in a story which (in itself) is fairly ordinary. To score this low based on its plot is to criticise Opera for its storyline. The whole point of the opera is its music, and the whole point of this film is its incredible portrayal of emotion. Brilliantly acted, brilliantly directed, and this will haunt you for some time.If you need your films to be Hollywood factory typecasts then don't watch this. You won't enjoy it. Go and rent out The Expendibles, and leave Monsieur Hire to those who appreciate art when they see it. I'm sorry if that sounds pretentious. I enjoy a cheesy Hollywood flick as much as the next person, but it's sad that there are people who can't see beyond Stephen Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Bruce Willis.

Almost, but not quite a parody of a French intellectual's 'thriller' chess game. Spoiler: It's more like a checkers game. Quirk, more quirks and even more quirks get piled onto Hire but he never becomes a believable character. Same may be said of Alice. (I know Beauty Is In The Eyes of The Beholder but would those of you who find Bonnaire beautiful look twice at her at a party or in a bar?) But let me list the movie's Mount Everest-high story problems, the real issue here. 1.We're shown Hire's large modern apartment building but we have to forget that there are a couple dozen other apartments whose residents are also able to view Alice, Alice and Emile in flagrante delicto. Perhaps one of them might have seen the murder take place? 2.Try taking your girlfriend or wife to a well intended sporting event.....and then place your hand on her labia......No one sees this? No one has peripheral vision? 3.Yet another fictional police inspector who is allowed to spend much of his days, morning, afternoon and evening, unsupervised and able to follow poor Hire around? Police harassment anyone? 4.Emile is moron enough to keep his murder victim's purse and his own blood-dried raincoat in Alice's apartment? 5. Hire writes a letter to the inspector naming Emile as the murderer and tells him where the raincoat can be located; how could Hire possibly know this? But no matter, when he buys the two tickets to Lausanne he's already burned his bridges re Alice because he's turned in her lover. So when she fails to show up to leave Paris with him he already knows he's lost the game. Why wouldn't, no, why shouldn't he turn her in when she double screws him by claiming he's the murderer? And then the most preposterous part of the story takes place. This man, who we've seen as someone with a flaring temper, RUNS AWAY OVER THE ROOFTOPS. Why in the world would he do this other than to give the hack screenwriter a 'dramatic', or rather, a melodramatic ending? Finally, obsessions such as those afflicting Hire and Alice would be more easily disposed of by showing how banal the object of the obsessed person is when seeing the object of their obsession close up. How satisfying the ending would have been to show Hire dispassionately denouncing her and proving it by telling the inspector where the raincoat was and also telling him about the explanatory letter. Final images: Emile and Alice in prison and Hire dolefully and dutifully looking at the window of the next woman who moves into Alice's apartment.