La femme aux chaussures leopard (2020)

Directed by: Alexis Bruchon | 80 minutes | drama, thriller | Actors: Paul Bruchon

Achieving maximum effect with minimum resources. That is what the Frenchman Alexis Bruchon is doing with his beautiful debut film ‘La femme aux chaussures léopard’ (2020). Bruchon is originally an illustrator and cartoonist and dreamed of one day bringing his creations to life. And what medium is better suited for that than film? With a budget of three thousand dollars and only a handful of crew members, he created his personal ode to the film noirs of the 1940s and 1950s. Alexis directed the film, wrote the screenplay and is also responsible for production, cinematography, music and editing. For the lead role, he recruited his brother Paul, who despite a lack of experience makes a fine appearance as the nameless burglar who is hired by the mysterious woman from the title to break into the shady lawyer Louis Boyer to steal a mysterious box. . He is given meticulous instructions about where the jewel is hidden and the best day to commit his burglary to minimize the chance of being caught.

But just as the loot is inside, the burglar’s peace is brutally disturbed. Someone is definitely home tonight. In fact, there’s a party going on at Louis Boyer’s house. And the room in which the burglar is located serves as a wardrobe. In order not to be seen, the burglar crawls under benches and tables and behind chairs and doors. He also discovers a body in a closet. What has Boyer got on his conscience? By snooping around the room, the burglar discovers shreds of information, such as who the mysterious woman is who ordered him to break into Boyer’s house, including her phone number. Desperate, he sends her whatsapp messages asking what to do. If he is caught in the room with the corpse in the closet, the finger of blame is pointed at him resolutely. How does he get out of the room unseen? Who is the dead man and why was he murdered? What is Boyer’s true nature and is the woman in the leopard shoes who he thinks she is?

For ‘La femme aux chaussures léopard’, Bruchon took a good look at classic film noirs by Alfred Hitchcock and Fritz Lang, among others. Shot in stylish black and white, with the femme fatale from the title, an ingenious plot and even a real ‘MacGuffin’. He made an interesting and smart choice by telling the story in its entirety from the burglar’s point of view. Literally, because except for his face and that of the dead man in the closet, we don’t see the face of any character. As the burglar hides under the couch or table, we see the lower legs and shoes of characters entering the room (nice nod to the opening scene of Hitchcock’s ‘Strangers on a Train’ from 1951). Dialogues are sparse; most words appear as a text message. An almost alienating modern element in such a classic-looking film. Because if you didn’t know better you would think that ‘La femme aux chaussures léopard’ must have been at least sixty years old. Until that cell phone appears on the screen, of course. It’s amazing how Bruchon has managed to make such an exciting film with such limited resources – one room, one actor, barely spoken word and a modest starting point in terms of plot. Because you are sure to be on the edge of your seat for the full eighty minutes. The fact that the payoff does not quite live up to expectations and it is remarkable that the French characters send messages to each other in English should certainly not spoil the fun for fans of classic suspense films.