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Confidentially Yours (Vivement dimanche !)

Movie · 1983 · 3 people

A black-and-white French comedy mystery from 1983, Confidentially Yours (French: Vivement dimanche!) was also released as Finally, Sunday! in Britain. It was the last film François Truffaut directed before his death in October 1984. He, Suzanne Schiffman and Jean Aurel adapted Charles Williams's 1962 pulp crime novel The Long Saturday Night. The black-and-white photography was a deliberate choice to evoke the American film noir of the 1940s and 1950s, and the film reads as both a homage to Alfred Hitchcock and a kind of thriller parody. It drew 1,176,425 admissions in France and was the year's 39th highest-grossing film.

Estate agent Julien Vercel (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is accused of murdering his wife and her lover, and hides in his office. His sharp-witted secretary Barbara Becker (Fanny Ardant), secretly in love with him, investigates on her own, though she is not entirely sure of his innocence. It all begins with a killing at a hunting spot, and suspicion settles on Julien.

Néstor Almendros shot it and Georges Delerue wrote the score, with filming running from 4 November to 31 December 1982. The film was nominated for a BAFTA for best foreign-language film, and Truffaut and Ardant received César nominations for best director and best actress.

DirectorFrançois Truffaut
Production companyLes Films du Carrosse

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Fanny Ardant Fanny Ardant Actor · 77 years old Jean-Louis Trintignant Jean-Louis Trintignant Character Actor · died at 91 Philippe Morier-Genoud Philippe Morier-Genoud Actor · 82 years old

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Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Being Truffaut's last film gives Confidentially Yours an unavoidable air of farewell, yet it is no solemn testament but a playful exercise. Néstor Almendros's black-and-white images deliberately recall American film noir of the 1940s and 50s, and the tone, swinging between homage to Hitchcock and thriller parody, feeds on that. The most interesting choice is that the investigation is run not by the accused man but by his secretary Barbara Becker: the role that earned Fanny Ardant a César nomination is the film's engine. The weak spot is that the balance between parody and suspense does not hold at every moment; viewers expecting a serious mystery may read the playfulness as lightness. Georges Delerue's name on the score promises a familiar elegance.

Yeşilçam Nostalgic A viewer raised on the classics, looking for warm storytelling and strong acting.

A black-and-white mystery, a sharp-witted secretary and a boss who may be wrongly accused: the set-up brings back the flavour of the good old films. That it was Truffaut's last before his death adds a sadness of its own. In a story that pits two strong performers like Fanny Ardant and Jean-Louis Trintignant against each other, the secretary's secret love for her boss is exactly the kind of delicacy I cherish. Its nature as a homage to Hitchcock will give a special pleasure to those raised on classic cinema.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

A murder, a suspect hiding in his office and a secretary investigating on her own: a good start for suspense. But do not think of it as a classic thriller; it is also a parody and a comedy, and it seems to get its rhythm from its characters more than from chases. It is for those after an old-school, black-and-white style. For someone who wants fast pace and big set pieces, it may feel too calm.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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