The Deadly Trap Explained

The Deadly Trap
Director:René Clément
Producer:Georges Casati
Robert Dorfmann
Bertrand Javal
Based On:The Children are Gone by Arthur Cavanaugh
Starring:Faye Dunaway
Frank Langella
Music:Gilbert Bécaud
Cinematography:Georges Pastier
Andréas Winding
Editing:Françoise Javet
Runtime:96 minutes
Country:France
Language:English

The Deadly Trap (French: '''La Maison sous les arbres''') is a 1971 suspense drama film directed by René Clément and set in France. It was screened at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival, but was not entered into the main competition.[1]

Plot

Jill and her husband Philip are an American couple living in Paris together with their two small children. Philip is currently an office worker, but he used to be involved with some shady organization which now wants him to do one more job for them. Meanwhile, Jill and Philip are having marital problems, which are exacerbated by Jill's mental instability—she has memory lapses and paranoid suspicions of Philip being unfaithful. The couple also has a neighbor, Cynthia, who shows an unusual interest in their affairs. One day, when Jill is out for a walk with the children, they go missing. The couple contacts the police but Inspector Chameille, who leads the investigation, is unsure whether the children were actually kidnapped or harmed by their erratic mother.

Cast

Reception

The film received mixed reviews upon release. Vincent Canby in The New York Times called it an "arbitrarily muddled" suspense melodrama where "nothing works", and that it "means to demonstrate...the limits of human patience."[2] Time Out praised "Clément's nice Hitchcockian-flavoured style and deft use of menacingly 'ordinary' locations" but said that "the ending has an impact similar to the punchline of a shaggy dog story."[3]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Festival de Cannes: The Deadly Trap . 13 April 2009. festival-cannes.com.
  2. News: Screen: Clement's 'The Deadly Trap'. Canby. Vincent. 26 October 1972. The New York Times. 2 September 2019. en-US. 0362-4331.
  3. Web site: The Deadly Trap Film review. Time Out London. en. 2 September 2019.