Monsieur Hire - by Patrice Leconte (1989) (DVD5+DVDRip)

Lonely and shy bachelor Monsieur Hire (Michel Blanc), suspected in the murder of a girl, secretly watches his young, attractive neighbor Alice (Sandrine Bonnaire) through the window. Once, when lightning flashes during a thunderstorm, she notices his face in the window and comes to him to find out what he is after. Adapting Georges Simenon's novel, Patrice Leconte emphasized the psychological drama rather than the detective story and created a film about loneliness and voyeurism; his cold precision is reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock or Fritz Lang. The low-key acting and moody soundtrack add a lot, but it's the director who deserves the most accolades, as he manages, with only glances and gestures, to achieve a degree of eroticism that other films fail to reach even through explicit sex scenes.

Personne n’aime Monsieur Hire. Et Monsieur Hire n’aime personne. Ni pauvre, ni riche, ce tailleur de profession, au visage blafard et toujours impeccablement vêtu, vit seul dans son appartement depuis des années. Sa seule passion, c’est Alice, sa voisine d’en face qu’il observe depuis des mois. Un soir, Emile, le fiancé d’Alice, revient couvert du sang d’une jeune fille assassinée. Monsieur Hire a tout vu et Alice le sait. Elle fera tout pour protéger son fiancé.

IMDB info 7.6/10 from 2,313 users
Stars: Michel Blanc, Sandrine Bonnaire and Luc Thuillier
Production land: France
Run time: ~79 min