Lesleigh McGann

As I get older I see movies differently. I saw this movie 25 years ago when it came out and loved it. The story was clear. The cops are interviewing the man who found the body but some of his answers and behavior don’t add up. The real answer is he was in shock, but they press and he evades because he can’t believe witnessing and reporting this horrible crime makes him a suspect and because he’s a big wig in town and thinks he should be treated better. As the questions get more personal he begins to lie outright because his personal life is a mess and he doesn’t want to admit it. When they drag his wife in the cops suggest to her that he’s complaining about what a bad wife she is and so embarrassed she begins to consider that her jealousy and harsh treatment of him will be vindicated if he really is guilty. At a crucial moment he says”I didn’t think she would go this far to make a point” and confesses to the murders using the details the police have fed him. 25 years ago I thought he confessed because he was so exhausted and no one believed him, not even his wife. Seeing it now I realize he confesses because he thinks his wife killed the young girls he innocently took pictures of because she won’t have his children and is consumed with jealousy for any young girls he shows kindness too. And because he loves her enough to go to jail for her, even though she has nothing but contempt for him. Complicating the situation is bad blood between him and the lead officer and an over zealous younger cop hoping to land a big fish. I agree the ending is too subtle for your average American movie but apparently it’s a remake of French film and they tend to end that way. With no apparent point. 25 years ago I thought the movie was about the dangers of the interrogation process, the mistakes that can be made and the innocent who can be made to look guilty. This time I saw both the husband and the wife admit they chose each other of their own free will. That they were happy for a while. But that misunderstandings and insecurities poisoned their marriage. Now the police accusations are the last straw, forcing them to confess not that he murdered the little girl, but that there is nothing left of their marriage to save.