A Trap for Cinderella

The sixties were a new phase in André Cayatte’s career ;he sometimes championed causes ,his trademark (“Le Glaive Et La Balance” ,”Les Risques Du Métier” )but he also tried new tacks with some success;of course panned by the would be heroes of the new wavelet ,he nevertheless innovated :”La vie Conjugale” was two different movies ,depicting a couple’s life ,from the husband’s and from the wife’s point of views;” Le Glaive Et La balance” renewed the movie-trial ;the only real horror was “Les Chemins De Kathmandou”)And there’s ‘Piège Pour Cendrillon”;Cayatte was not exactly in his field when he broaches this pure psychological thriller;by and large ,I do not go much for Japrisot’s stuff ,which is ,IMHO ,no match for Boileau-Narcejac ,Frederic Dard (his thrillers of course),let alone Agatha Christie.That said ,” Piège Pour Cendrillon ” is a different matter;the subject is not new (“Spellbound” , the contemporary ” the third day ” ( 1965) “shattered” and countless others dealt with amnesia );but the treatment,including four parts ,each one containing the same verb in four different tenses of French conjugation was downright disturbing;and the ending was all the more baffling since the mystery was not solved .(It was the reader who decided :Jean Anouilh’s screenplay opted for a “moral” ending )The book was the subject of many serious studies and essays by psychoanalysts ,which was not the case for stuff such as ,say,”L’Eté Meurtrier”.A devilish conspiracy involving a victim of a fire who awakes in a hospital ,suffering from amnesia:is she Dominique or Michèle? Might she be a criminal?We already knew that Cayatte had a certain flair for film Noir,as certain aspects of “Le Glaive Et La Balance” showed;abetted by two excellent actresses,he succeeded in building a threatening atmosphere.Madeleine Robinson gives goose flesh in her portrayal of a calculating woman :too often overlooked ,she was definitely one of our very best thespians .Dany Carrel found here her lifetime role: she played two parts (two different personalities in flashbacks);the more she goes back in the past and tries to find who she really is ,the more she’s confused and lost .René Dary,a veteran from the silent age (Feuillade’s Bébé),appears as the surgeon .Remade in England (“trap for Cinderella” 2013):this time two different actresses play the amnesiac ,but the movie succumbs to contemporary clichés (lesbianism,nudity,flashy cinematography).