DVD cover of The Burned Barns
It was a chilly weekend in Minnesota, so I decided it was a good time to watch the 1973 French movie The Burned Barns. Starring French legends Alain Delon and Simone Signoret, The Burned Barns is set and filmed in the Doubs region of France, which borders Switzerland. The movie takes place during the winter, and the landscape is cold and forbidding.
The Burned Barns is a detective story, as a young woman is found stabbed to death in a desolate field. The field is near the farm where Rose (Signoret) and her three adult children live. Judge Larcher (Delon) comes from the city to investigate the case. As he investigates, he begins to suspect that Rose’s family may be involved in the murder.
I won’t say more about the plot, other than to note that the movie is less about solving the murder and more of a study of character and place. The desolate farmhouse becomes a character of its own. Even when the actors are inside the house, you can see their breath in the air as they speak.
The cast is all excellent, especially Delon and Signoret as the two leads. Delon could convey so much emotion with so little action, and his minimalist style is used to great effect here. Signoret is terrific as the strong-willed Rose, who is clearly running the show at the family farm. Rose is also very involved, perhaps too involved, in the lives of her two sons, and this is a source of tension.
As I was watching The Burned Barns, I thought about how the story could easily lend itself to a limited series of 6 or 8 episodes. You have so many fascinating story elements: the isolated, rural community, the harsh winter weather, the inherent tension between the urban Judge Larcher and the townspeople, the way that Rose controls and dominates her family, and the way these attempts at control affect her sons’ behavior. There’s a lot going on in the movie, and there are many avenues a longer series could investigate.
The cast is full of excellent performances, including Signoret’s daughter Catherine Allegret as Rose’s daughter Francoise. Miou-Miou also has a small but eye-catching role as Monique, the wife of Rose’s younger son Paul. The Italian actor Renato Salvatori has a small role as the owner of the hotel that Larcher stays at. Salvatori appeared in six films with Delon—they played brothers in Rocco and His Brothers, one of Delon’s breakout movies. Salvatori also appeared with Delon in Indian Summer, Le Gitan, Flic Story, and Armaguedon.
Jean-Michel Jarre’s soundtrack for The Burned Barns reminded me of Wendy Carlos’ brilliant synthesizer score for A Clockwork Orange. Jarre’s eerie electronic score lets the viewer know that things are not quite what they seem in the sleepy village.
Jarre’s name sounded familiar to me, and when I looked him up on Wikipedia yesterday, I went into a deep dive. The reason Jarre’s name sounded familiar to me, especially in connection with movies soundtracks, is because he’s the son of composer Maurice Jarre, who composed the scores for many of David Lean’s movies like Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, and A Passage to India. Jean-Michel didn’t have much of a relationship with his father, but it’s interesting that he became a musician and composer as well. Jean-Michel Jarre’s 1976 album Oxygene became a million-selling number 1 album in France and launched him as a major star in electronic music. Jarre’s concerts have become major events, and he has held four free concerts that reportedly attracted an audience of over 1 million people, including a concert in Moscow in 1997 that was attended by 3.5 million people.
Alain Delon’s wardrobe in the movie was outstanding, as he showcased a great collection of winter coats.
Included as an extra on the Blu-Ray is a 26-minute documentary that details the difficulties director Jean Chapot had in dealing with his two stars. Chapot had directed mainly television and a couple of films before The Burned Barns. But Chapot did not know what to do with Alain Delon and Simone Signoret. After one take, Chapot said nothing, infuriating Signoret, who told him that she needed feedback, even if it was negative. Delon said similar things to Chapot. Ultimately, Chapot simply didn’t show up to the set some days, and Delon took over directing those days. One of the people interviewed for the documentary was Assistant Director Jean-Francois Delon, Alain’s brother.
The Burned Barns is a fascinating little movie, and one well worth checking out if you’re a fan on French cinema, Alain Delon, or Simone Signoret.
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