The Trial (Le Procès)

Released 1963
Stars Anthony Perkins, Orson Welles, Romy Schneider, Jeanne Moreau, Elsa Martinelli
Directed by Orson Welles

This film is a paranoid nightmare based on the Franz Kafka novel. It's about a man, Joseph K, who awakes one morning to find anonymous detectives in his bedroom. They interrogate him in a suspicious manner that jump starts the paranoia train. Joseph's been arrested with no explanation of the charges, but he's not imprisoned. He's free to go to work and go about his life, but he's constantly tailed and required to defend his case which he knows nothing about. I haven't read the novel, but I'm amazed that it was written in 1925. Considering how it foreshadows the police states of Hitler and Stalin, maybe it's not so paranoid after all. You can't be paranoid if everyone really is out to get you. The rest of the accused know Joseph is doomed--they can tell by the way he carries his mouth. They see his determination to fight the system, but there is no fighting the system. You either go along with it or it kills you. 

This movie is not for everyone. In fact, it probably has a rather small audience today, but it is brilliant. It may be a little pretentious, but there's no denying it's visually stunning. It was shot in an abandoned train station in Paris, which provided an amazing set that was absolutely perfect for this nightmare. I can't even imagine how expensive it would have been in 1963 to create these sets. This was obviously an influential film for directors, and you can see that influence in movies like "Brazil" and "Jacob's Ladder."

Summary by Bill Alward, December 9, 2001