Jean-Pierre Darroussin is the most underrated actor in French cinema, and he turns in another exceptional performance in this sly, suspenseful and mordantly witty adaptation of Georges Simenon's novel.
Abandoned by his prim wife (Bouquet) for over-imbibing en route to collect their holidaying kids, Darroussin seeks solace in a roadside bar before being menaced by a taciturn hitcher, who he treats with drink-fuelled rage. Next morning, he shifts from wounded indignation to remorseful panic as he realises his wife has gone missing.
As in his last thriller, Roberto Succo, director Kahn challenges road movie conventions, but it's his homages to Hitchcock, Claude Chabrol and Jacques Tati that make his direction so accomplished and assured.