Three things to know about… Danger in the home

Michel Deville’s troubled and disturbing thriller is in the spotlight this evening on Arte. Followed by Dancer in the Dark, by Lars Von Trier.

Arte is currently broadcasting a Lars Von Trier cyclebut before rebroadcast Dancing in the Darkthe channel will offer the French film at 8:50 p.m. Danger in the house. A Machiavellian thriller by Michel Deville (who died at the start of the year), released in 1985 with Richard Bohringer, Nicole Garcia and Christophe Malavoy, which First advise you.

An adaptation by René Belletto

Danger in the house tells the mysterious and cruel game in which a clumsy and naive guitar teacher will find himself trapped, on whom the mother of one of his students will set her sights. Christophe Malavoy and Nicole Garcia play these two characters alongside Michel Piccoli, Anaïs Jeanneret, Richard Bohringer and Anémone in this troubled and disturbing thriller, adapted from the novel by René Belletto, On earth as in heaven, published in 1982, injecting some elements of comedy into these poisonous passions. This is the first time that the writer has seen one of his works transposed to the screen. We will have to wait nine years and 1994 for the second (and last to date): The machine produced by François Dupeyron with the trio Gérard Depardieu- Nathalie Baye- Didier Bourdon, a rereading of the myth of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde.

A wonderful time: Richard Bohringer’s greatest role

A deliberately tight shoot

Although produced by Gaumont via its then head, Daniel Toscan du Plantier, Michel Deville did not fail in his reputation for making inexpensive films. Although the work plan was 9 weeks, he finished a week early. “ It’s so exciting to save time! » he declared in the February 1985 issue of First. Also undoubtedly a way of keeping one’s freedom.

Assembly in record time

At Michel Deville, editing begins with… the shots. The filmmaker only films what will be useful to him in the end, thanks to meticulous pre-cutting work. Michel Deville’s cinema plays out well before the sets and the post-production phase. Which allows him to have an almost final version of his film… only 10 days after the last turn of the crank! Speed, however, does not rhyme here with precipitation since the fluid and rhythmic editing of Danger in the house, signed Raymonde Guyot, was awarded a César. That evening, at the Palais des Congrès, Michel Deville emerged as best director against strong competition: Claude Miller (The Effrontee), Agnès Varda (No shelter, no law), Luc Besson (Subway) and Coline Serreau (Three men and a bassinet).

Michel Deville, contrarian director of Dossier 51 and Péril en la domicile