Mississippi Mermaid Details

Catherine Deneuve arrives on the island of Réunion to marry plantation owner Jean-Paul Belmondo. She plays a mail-order bride in this adaptation of a Cornell Woolrich novel, transformed by Truffaut into a lavish and exotic study of obsessive love (what the French call l'amour fou). Things turn decidedly darker when the tropics give way to winter in the French Alps and romance turns to murder. This was the director's first major flop, only released abroad in a slightly cut and badly dubbed version that rendered the dialogue utterly risible. The stars have an undeniable glamour, and the first half-hour is superb. However, most audiences will find the whole thing — especially Belmondo's wimpy behaviour — pretty silly.

Oddly obsessive romantic murder mystery: the hero continues to love the girl who tries to kill him, and at the end they are still together. Interesting when it is not uncomfortable.