But no one was prepared for "Monsieur Hire" when it had its premiere at the 1988 Cannes International Film Festival.

A misanthropic voyeuristic tailor, Monsieur Hire, spies on his gorgeous neighbour from across the street.

Monsieur Hire is hounded by a detective investigating the murder and is also eventually noticed by the object of his gaze, the young woman Alice.

Monsieur Hire 1990.

"Michel was worried about playing Monsieur Hire because it's so dramatic a role," Mr. Lecomte recalled.

She's fine in "Monsieur Hire," but it's a role, you feel, that any number of French actresses could have played.

But in this picture the director wittily undoes the femme fatale persona he tried to impose on his star in "Monsieur Hire."

The strange and slightly unsettling Monsieur Hire is suspected of a crime.

"Monsieur Hire" was shown as part of the 1989 New York Film Festival.

"Monsieur Hire" has the makings of a first-rate psychological study.