This Man Must Die

In the quiet French seaside town where the film opens, ordinary lives are shattered by a sudden tragedy that pulls one man out of his routine and into a relentless pursuit. Charles Thenier returns from a day at the beach to discover that his young son has been killed in a hit‑and‑run. The loss grips him with a profound grief that quickly hardens into a single, consuming purpose: to uncover the driver and bring the truth to light. The atmosphere is suffused with a somber, almost breathless tension, as the coastal scenery contrasts sharply with the darkness gathering inside Charles.

To navigate his anguish, Charles begins keeping an exacting journal, a record that becomes both confession and compass. As the police investigation stalls, his intuition steers him toward an unexpected lead—a celebrated actress whose name flickers through the whispers of the town. Helène Lanson appears in his thoughts as a woman marked by her own shadows, having been a passenger in the car that night. Their meeting is charged with a fragile mixture of curiosity and desperation, setting the stage for a relationship that is as much about uncovering hidden motives as it is about confronting personal ghosts.

Through Helène, Charles is drawn into the orbit of her brother‑in‑law, a man whose reputation precedes him. Paul Decourt is hinted at as someone whose presence destabilizes everyone around him, hinting at a world where charm masks something more unsettling. The film lingers on the uneasy dynamics among these three figures, exploring how grief can drive a person to cross moral boundaries and how the pursuit of vengeance can blur the lines between hunter and hunted.

The tone throughout is brooding and methodical, marrying the elegance of the French Riviera with an undercurrent of unspoken danger. The story invites the audience to feel the weight of each silent stare, the ticking of a diary’s pages, and the quiet dread that accompanies a quest that may lead farther from justice than toward an abyss of its own making.

Last Updated: December 04, 2025 at 23:13