Like Clouzot, Jacques Becker incorporates the pervasive malaise of the period in a work that examines the impact of a murder on an isolated rural community populated with an eccentric cast of characters. In this noirish comic thriller, the Goupis, a hard-working family with a deep-seated distrust of outsiders, find their world turned upside-down following a visit by the youngest family member, who makes his living in Paris. The family’s ancestral treasure disappears, the housekeeper is found dead, and the eldest Goupi is rendered mute after being knocked unconscious. Among the ensemble, Rollin is particularly effective in his sympathetic characterization of the young Goupi-Monsieur, providing a welcome counterpoint to the overwhelming societal cynicism displayed by the rest of the family.