A young woman who watches a stranger get off a bus in the pouring rain, soon finds out she's being stalked by that exact man. When at home, the man breaks into her house (as her husband is away) and rapes her. Later on after the ordeal the man still happens to be the house, but she grabs a shotgun and shoots him. Where she would dump the body into the ocean. Then suddenly another man appears on the scene named Harry Dobbs, who goes out of the way to try to convince the young woman she committed a murder without giving too much away.This tightly handled low-budget French / Italian co-production is an improbable, but an oddly bold and stimulating teaser that seems straight forward at first, then suddenly it leads you down many knotty paths (with Hitchcock shades) before breaking out the truth of the matter. It's a real curiously acute piece (adapted from a novel) by director Rene Clement, who gets interestingly respectable performances out of very fitting Charles Bronson (whose character is a hard one to figure out) and Marlene Jobert adding some innocent starch to her role. The film / story really do draw from these two performances in dissecting the character's formal makeup and inner workings in how they play a big part to the scheme of things. It's hard to tell the lingering intentions behind the bigger picture, as it becomes exhaustingly confounding in its investigative details and suggestive developments. The productively sharp script is thoroughly meticulous in disguising the truth; as barriers are broken to only go on to create new scenarios and leads. Stark, moody atmospherics lend well to Clement's leeringly grounded, subdued style where it really breathes of a quiet intensity to its continuously building psychological framework and dour visuals within its slow-going nature. The gloomy opening stages really do build upon a creepy ambiance, which pulls you in and the score is sparsely used, but has a dramatic sting. The performances outside the central turns are finely tailored with the likes of Annie Cordy, Ellen Bahl, Jean Gaven, Steve Eckardt and Jill Ireland in one her first roles starring alongside Bronson.

We are in the South of France, the gorgeous Mélancolie 'Mellie' Mau finds a mysterious stranger is stalking her. She is then raped by the man and after finding him still in the house after the attack she shoots him dead and throws his body into the sea. Sometime later, tough grizzled American, Col. Harry Dobbs, walks into her life and appears to know everything that has happened.Every once in a while i come across a film that leaves me both intrigued and highly frustrated, Le Passager de la pluie is one such film. I have rated it down the middle with a 5/10 rating because i have to sit on the fence with it, it has many qualities that obviously hit the spot for many viewers, yet it's something of a chore to get through as well. Filmed as a sort of dreamy pondering piece by René Clément, the film is never less than interesting, and at times quite beautiful in texture. Just going by the user comments on IMDb it's apparent that the appearance of Charles Bronson has divided many a viewer, those proclaiming that this turn shows a depth to his acting are quite right, it does, but ultimately when his character gets mean and kicks some, it's the high point of the film, a victim of typecasting it may be, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it Charles.Fans of Bronson macho movie heaven need not apply here, this is a different animal completely, those into art-house cinema will love the dream scape feeling on show here, René Clément knows his onions for sure, and i was personally enthralled by the performance of Marlène Jobert as Mélancolie 'Mellie' Mau, if i can get any other films she has been in then i'll be an interested viewer. Yet the film falls down for me because after an opening third that is quite brilliant, one that makes me feel that a sense of fear and dread has invaded my well being, the piece sinks into that mantra of style over substance that appears to be pandering for all genre watchers.I'll never watch it again, but i'm strangely glad that i did catch it.

Charles Bronson is featured as the lead actor in this movie, but he's in it for a very brief period of time. The story could have been good, but stupid nonsense things happened making the movie lose its credibility. I absolutely hated this movie and was overjoyed when it ended. This movie should be avoided at all costs. Too long and drawn out. And more importantly - POINTLESS!!!

I'm 18 and a huge fan of Bronson, and alot of you probably know because of the reviews i write all the time on Bronson film. And this is a change of pace for Bronson, tough but acting. Well i think he acts great all the time personally. But critics didn't like him very much, but did that stop him been the biggest star in the world?, i don't think so. He was one of the biggest stars back in early 70's to the till late 80's. I mean all the big films he's done, not bad for a kid from the dumps of pennsylvania. I have the dvd of Violent city and he say's in it about been thrown in Jail for going on a train and having he's head shaven, he had a bad life and look what he did with it has he got older. Made himself a big, and i mean big, big star.Well in this film Bronson plays a cop who's trying to stop a serial killer who rapes woman, he rapes a woman on day and she kills him. And then Bronson comes to her saying he know what she did, he threatens her till she gives him the money the man had. But she didn't kill the man he's saying she killed. I can't say anymore because it'll spoil it. It's very smart for it's time and i recommend it to anyone who loves film made in france and anyone who don't because it's Bronson performance that win you over. Watch it, it's worth it.10/10