Boxes

This intense, morbid character study from Garnier (1949–2010) is less noir than gloomy contemporary gothic. Brice, an artist, has moved to a house in the French countryside to await the arrival of his wife, Emma, while he slips gradually into depression and madness. Emma may have been killed in a terrorist bombing of a hotel, but Brice refuses to believe that possibility. He keeps the boxes from the movers stored in one room, rummaging through at random like a hoarder in his lair. Brice takes rare trips into the village, where he gets to know Blanche, who lives alone in a large empty house. Blanche likes Brice because of his uncanny resemblance to her father, with whom she had an unusual relationship. While less exciting than such other Garnier novels as The Panda Theory and How’s the Pain?, this one will help reinforce his cult status among noir fans. (Oct.)