Patrice Leconte's Monsieur Hire is proof that a film's ending can elevate it from merely being 'good' to being 'great.' The final five minutes add a layer of heart-breaking emotional intensity and depth that literally left me speechless. Until then the film's plot seemed rather straight-forward. It concerns the eponymous Monsieur Hire, a voyeuristic tailor who lives in self-imposed isolation. His odd behavior has made him a pariah to his neighbors, but Hire doesn't care. He spends his nights spying on his neighbor, a beautiful young woman named Alice. When she catches him in the act, Hire confesses his love for her. He promises to take Alice away from her abusive, small-time gangster boyfriend to his little home in Switzerland. All of this goes on in the midst of a police investigation of the murder of another young woman. Hire is accused by his neighbors of being the culprit, not necessarily because they have proof against him, but because their dislike of him has evolved into a sinister hatred. We begin to believe that the community sees this murder as the perfect opportunity to rid themselves of this strange, quiet tailor. These two plot threads, Hire and Alice's relationship and the murder investigation, might seem only tangentially related, but in the last five minutes they become inseparably linked. Monsieur Hire is a beautiful little film that relishes the subtle nuances of its characters and the mysteries of human behavior. At first it may seem like the film is a simple stylistic indulgence on the part of its director. But I urge you to pay close attention and wait until the end. Believe me when I say that it is worth it.
9/10
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