First of all, "Death Rite" has great cult value: Claude Chabrol + Franco Nero + Goldfinger (i.e. Gert Frobe) are an once-in-a-lifetime combo. Couple this with the movie's relative obscurity, and I'm certainly glad I managed to track it down (on VHS). It's an unusual experiment from Chabrol, both visually (set in Tunisia) and thematically (a meditation on parapsychology and fate). The basic idea of the movie is that not only can you not change what is destined to happen, but your efforts to change it are actually part of the grand master plan of fate, and will only help lead to the inevitable outcome. The most enigmatic character in the movie is the "idle rich" Jean Rochefort: he is trying to manipulate the lives of the other characters and bring a secret love triangle out in the open, to no clear purpose except maybe being able to sit back and entertain himself with the (potentially deadly) drama playing in front of his eyes. The script is actually quite smartly constructed, but it may take you 2 viewings to realize that. Chabrol doesn't get to do as much cool stuff with his camera as usual, but he does stage one extremely suspenseful sequence about whether a small statue will fall to the floor or not! I can't say this is a fully satisfying movie, however I did find it more interesting than some of Chabrol's better known efforts. **1/2 out of 4.
Review of Death Rite
