Verdict
Summary
A French mystery set mostly in a single location (although there are other locations featured), Rider on the Rain is a frustrating thriller with a big twist, but ultimately it works due to the way Bronson plays the antagonist, always with a grin on his face and a twinkle in his eye.
Plot:
A mysterious investigator hounds a woman who killed her rapist and disposed of his body.
Review:
Mellie (Marlene Jobert) is often left alone in the home she shares with her airline navigator husband, and one day while she’s window shopping, she attracts a stalker, who follows her home and waits for his moment to break in and sexually assault her. After the rape, he lurks around (likely for round two), but Mellie grabs a shotgun and blasts him to death, stunned at her own burst of violence. She calls the police in a daze, hangs up the phone without saying anything, and decides to dispose of the corpse herself. She drives to a nearby cliff and dumps him. The very next day, a mysterious man named Dobbs (Charles Bronson with a gleam in his eye) shows up and asks her why she killed the man. It throws her for a loop, and rightfully so! Armed with knowledge he can’t possibly know (or can he?), Dobbs locks her in her own home and “hangs out” with her, testing her and interrogating her as if she’s already been found guilty by a court, only Dobbs is much more playful in his tactics, which drives her nearly to the brink of insanity. He demands that she confess, but no matter what he does to her (and it’s borderline abusive), she refuses to break under his pressure. Who is Dobbs? Well, he’s an American military investigator, and a body was discovered on the beach and another woman was just arrested for the murder, but what Mellie doesn’t realize about Dobbs, her rapist, and the body discovered on the beach is a lot, but because Dobbs presses her so hard she takes drastic measures to clear the other woman of the crime that she is guilty of, which leads to a colossal mix-up.
A French mystery set mostly in a single location (although there are other locations featured), Rider on the Rain is a frustrating thriller with a big twist, but ultimately it works due to the way Bronson plays the antagonist, always with a grin on his face and a twinkle in his eye. Jobert plays the “innocent” victim who made a bad decision, but the movie constantly needles her into a psychological pulp, which becomes unrelenting. I watched the 120-minute French version, so the movie is long and arduous to sit through, but I’m a huge Bronson fan, so it was certainly worth it, and while this is most definitely not an action film, the film affords Bronson an opportunity to throw a beatdown on some thugs in one scene, but he also tosses a woman around as well, so there’s that. From director Rene Clement.
Kino Lorber reissues Rider on the Rain in 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray in a two-disc set, which contains both the 114-minute American version (in English) and the 120-minute French cut (in French). Special features include two audio commentaries, trailers, alternate artwork, and a slipcover.
