Made during the German occupation, THE RAVEN almost brought Clouzot’s career to a halt when it was misinterpreted following the war as anti-French propaganda. But au contraire: it is in fact a withering attack on the collaborationist bourgeois society of Vichy-era France. Upon the appearance of a series of anonymous letters exposing a small town’s dirty secrets, the polite veneer of society crumbles as suspicion, hatred, and paranoia rage out of control. A deeply unsettling, unsparing glimpse into the dark heart of human nature, THE RAVEN is one of Clouzot’s finest films.
