Cinema
I Confess
Alfred Hitchcock · 1953
Synopsis
One night in Quebec, a man in a cassock leaves the home of the lawyer Villette, whom he has just killed while trying to rob him. It is Otto Keller, the parish handyman, who at once confesses to Father Michael Logan. Bound by the secrecy of the confessional, the priest keeps silent. Two young girls saw a priest leave; Inspector Larrue suspects Logan, who refuses to say where he was that evening, and discovers that he has seen Ruth Grandfort again, a woman he once loved and whom Villette was blackmailing.
Context
The film comes from a French play of 1902, Nos deux consciences, by Paul Anthelme, and its screenplay passed through many hands. The first version, faithful to the play, had the priest hanged; Warner, which was producing, had this ending changed in the spring of 1952, before a shoot that began in August on location. In his interviews with Truffaut, the director later judged the film too heavy-handed. The premiere took place in Quebec City, at the Capitol, on 12 February 1953.
Who it is for
One hour thirty-five; the whole story rests on what canon law forbids the priest to reveal of a confession he has received.
Prizes and reception
In competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 1953; a mixed reception on release, then defended by the young critics of Cahiers du cinéma.
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