morrison-dylan-fan Gathering up 100 French movies to watch over 100 days,I was thrilled to find that a very kind IMDber had sent me a creepy-sounding French Film Noir co-written/directed and starring Robert Hossein,which led to me getting ready to find out what the night is for.The plot:Walking off the beach, Pierre Menda gets offered a lift from a mysterious women.Parking up,the women takes her clothes off,and has sex with Menda.With having had sex with her,Menda decides to ask the women what her name is (!),which leads to a gun being put against his face. Interested in finding the women,Menda looks round the area and finds the car parked outside a mansion.Entering the mansion,Menda finds it to contain two sisters,the wheelchair bound Eva Lecain and her career Hélène.Finding himself drawn into their complicated relationship,Menda begins to suspect that the sisters are keeping something secret from him.View on the film:Rolling the role away from being a charity case, Marina Vlady gives an exquisite performance as Eva Lecain,whose angelic face Vlady cracks to unveil the femme fatale laying in wait.Giving up everything to take care of her sister, Odile Versois gives an excellent performance as Hélène,by Versois walking a fine wire which puts all of the weight of the years of care on Hélène's shoulders,and also steps on her sinister Film Noir side. Entering the Lecain mansion, Robert Hossein gives a rugged performance as Film Noir loner Menda,by Hossein initially giving Menda a peacemaker shell which starts to crack as Menda begins to doubt how much he can trust the sisters.Locking the trio up in the mansion,director Hossein & cinematographer Robert Juillard cast a blistering Film Noir atmosphere over the title,which unleashes a white-hot sun that burns the shadows of the sisters and Menda.Backed by a playful score from his dad André,Hossein displays a masterful eye for detail,thanks to Hossein having the sisters linger in the background like a ghost haunting this Film Noir chamber.Splashing Frédéric Dard's crisp pulp novel on the screen,the screenplay by Hossein and Daniel Hortis slices brittle melodrama with an impending Fim Noir doom.Keeping the body count at 0,the writers exchange gunfights for explosive Film Noir dialogue,which is centred around giving the fragile relationships a psychological depth,due to the arrival of outsider Menda opening everything that has remained silent between the Lecain,as they each find out that night is not for sleep.

Rob Cochran Actor and director Robert Hossein's (RIFIFI, CHAIR DE POULE) noir masterpiece and one of the great French thrillers of the fifties. One dark night, in the deserted streets of Nice, an car slowly drives past Victor Menda (Robert Hossein) and then pulls up. A come-on from the mysterious blonde at the wheel and Victor finds himself kissing and making love with the gorgeous creature. But as soon as the embrace is over, the mantis-like beauty rejects him and, under the threat of a gun, makes him leave the car. Worse, she tries - and nearly manages - to kill him by running over him. After the twisted encounter, he traces the license plates to the address of the monstrous nymphomaniac. To his amazement he discovers that in the villa - in front of which the car is parked - two identical twin sisters live together, both of whom look sweet and harmless, but which one is the psycho? Turn out the lights before watching this psychological cat- and-mouse thriller. Based on a Frederic Dard's novel "Night Is Not for Sleep".

stanistreet WHEN I first saw this film, in London, in 1958, I was bowled over. I had never seen a film like this before. It had a strange, hypnotic effect, quite unlike the films that I had seen previously and it left a lasting impact.I believe that Odile Versios & Marina Vlady are sisters, if not twins. Certainly the interaction is amazing in its power to influence the viewer.If this has been converted to DVD - in Region 2 format - and in the original French language, I would love to hear about it & where it can be purchased.

jaquem_o A man looks for the mysterious young lady who tried to crush him one evening One night, while he promenades in the streets of Nice, Victor Menda is accosted by a fair young lady in the steering wheel of Cadillac. The attractive creature, whose face stays in the shadow, invites Victor to rise, give herself fervently to him then stick him the cannon of a revolver on the temple and order him to get off. While he goes away, she tries to crush him. Victor just escapes death. Furious, he has the reflex to note the number of the car. A fast inquiry leads him around a big house where live two very resembling sisters, both fair.