Criterion Blu-ray Film Review

Charade (1963) • Blu-ray [Criterion Collection]

Romance and suspense ensue in Paris as a woman is pursued by several men who want a fortune her murdered husband had stolen. Whom can she trust?

Regina “Reggie” Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) is the unhappy wife to a man she knows almost nothing about, beyond the fact he’s rich. But before she can get a divorce, her husband’s murdered body is thrown from a train, and when she returns to their Parisian apartment, the place is completely empty and even her clothes have been taken. The funeral’s a quiet affair: just Reggie, her best friend, her best friend’s little boy, and the police officer investigating her husband’s murder. That is, until three strangers arrive. One-by-one they make damn sure her husband is dead while making threatening overtures towards Reggie. Later that same day, Regina’s summoned to the US Embassy by CIA agent Batholomew (Walter Matthau), who tells her the trio of strangers were her husband’s double-crossed accomplices in a gold theft, and they now think she has the money. In fact, everyone seems to think she has…