My Brother-in-Law Killed My Sister | |
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original poster
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Directed by | Jacques Rouffio |
Produced by | Giorgio Silvagni |
Written by |
Georges Conchon Jacques Rouffio |
Music by | Philippe Sarde |
Cinematography | Jacques Loiseleux |
Edited by | Anna Ruiz |
Distributed by | Société des Etablissements L. Gaumont |
Release date
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Running time
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92 minutes |
Country | France |
Language | French |
My Brother-in-Law Killed My Sister (French: Mon beau-frère a tué ma soeur, (French pronunciation: [mɔ̃bofʁɛʁ atɥe masœʁ]) is a 1986 French film directed by Jacques Rouffio. It played in competition at the 36th Berlin International Film Festival.In the film, two members of the French Academy agree to help the attractive young veterinarian Esther investigate the suspicious death of her sister. Esther is convinced her brother-in-law is responsible, but soon it becomes apparent that those responsible are linked to the very highest echelons of power in the Vatican.
The films begins at a ceremony in which anthropologist Stephen Sembadel is honouring his co-worker and longtime friend Octave Clapoteau. At the event, a young veterinarian named Esther Bouloire – with whom Sembadel had previously spoken at one of his lectures -- approaches the two men and insists that they dine together.
After revealing that she thinks her brother-in-law murdered her sister Genevieve and burned the body, the two academics inform Esther that it’s crazy to assume her sister’s disappearance for 2 years means she’s dead and they promptly check her into a mental health clinic. Upon her release, Sembadel and Clapoteau accompany the heavily medicated Esther as she recklessly drives to her veterinary practice, shoots up the office of her late father’s law business, and shows them her house and the house of her “evil” cousin Muriel.
Esther explains that her father and her Uncle Leopold – Muriel’s father – went into business together as the Bouloire Brothers and that both men and their wives died recently in mysterious car accidents. The business was taken over by the hunchbacked third brother, Jocelyn, whom Esther believes arranged the death of her sister at the hands of her brother-in-law.
At Esther’s request, Sembadel and Clapoteau visit the brother-in-law but find that he’s nothing more than an eccentric sports enthusiast. The two academics decide to take the initiative and visit Jocelyn Bouloire-Haussmann. Jocelyn assures them that his niece Genevieve just ran away and that the man mentioned by Homecourt -- Munoz -- is dead and not a lead worth pursuing. Less than two hours later, Clapoteau’s recently arrived Roman lover, the Countess Renata Palozzi, is beaten up by thugs. The two academics, suspecting Jocelyn, angrily confront Esther but are scolded for visiting him without being asked.