Its translation as “the end of beauty” an apt name for such a dreary film that exposes the ugliness of humanity, Édouard Molinaro’s La mort de Belle tells a tale of extreme alienation, of a man destined to become the evil that his community has relentlessly accused him of being. Stuck in a marriage to the cold, distrustful Christine (Monique Mélinand) and living just outside Geneva, schoolteacher Stéphane Blanchon (Jean Desailly) quickly becomes the primary suspect in the strangulation of their pretty, 18-year-old houseguest Belle (Alexandra Stewart) based on circumstantial evidence. The daughter of Christine’s lifelong friend (“I don’t like your husband,” the friend tells Christine when visiting after the murder), Belle had fallen in love with Stéphane, it turns out, despite Stéphane’s best attempts to resist her flirtations, which included hanging her panties on the clothesline with intention. Stéphane’s claims of innocence are doubted not only around his workplace and the entire town, but by his own wife and Judge Beckman (Jacques Monod), the police inspector who seems determined to humiliate him. Indeed, only a single policeman (Marc Cassot) believes Stéphane’s version of events. Pushed to the edge and a night of drunkenness in the city, the accused Stéphane encounters Nina (Yvette Etiévant), who will change his fate once again (as they dance, she confesses “It’s strange to think those same hands might have…”). The extensive use of Stéphane’s interior voiceover amplifies the film’s psychological complexity, seemingly subtle camera work adding further dimension through deep focus, closeups, and asymmetrical compositions.