1981-1990 Crime France Georges Lautner Mystery

Georges Lautner – La maison assassinée AKA The Murdered House (1988)

adminJune 10, 2019

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Synopsis:
In the aftermath of the First World War, Séraphin Monge returns to his home village in the south of France and sets about finding himself a job. Working as a road-mender, he gets to meet another man, Brigue, who is able to shed some light on his mysterious past. Séraphin is surprised to learn that, almost a quarter of a century ago, his entire family was slaughtered in the course of one stormy night. He was the only survivor, then just a baby of four months. The murders were blamed on a party of migrant workers from Eastern Europe – they were soon arrested and executed, although not everyone was convinced of their guilt at the time.

These revelations make a deep impression on Séraphin, who has agonised over what became of his family for years. In a mad frenzy, he begins to demolish the house within which the carnage took place. In doing so, he finds a small box containing credit notes signed by three notables in the village – Didon Pujol, Gaspard Dupin and Célestat Dormeur. It suddenly occurs to Séraphin that these three men are the ones who murdered his family, so without further reflection he commits himself to killing each one of them. His first victim will be Dupin, a wealthy man who lives in a large house with his daughter Charmaine and son Patrice.

The fact that Séraphin feels some kinship with Patrice, another war veteran who was badly mutilated on the battlefield, does not dissuade him from his dark purpose, nor does his strong physical attraction for Charmaine. But whilst Séraphin is being seduced by the over-sexed daughter, the father succumbs to what seems to be a terrible accident. Victim number two, the miller Didon Pujol, also dies in mysterious circumstances before the would-be executioner can reach him. It seems that someone knows what is on Séraphin’s mind and is going out of his way to protect him…

— James Travers.