La Verite (1960)

An aimless young woman (Brigitte Bardot) is on trial for the murder of her lover (Sami Frey). The prosecuting attorney (Paul Meurisse) portrays her as a narcissistic cold blooded murderess while the defense (Charles Vanel) portrays the killing as a crime of passion after she had been pushed over the edge. Directed by Henri Georges Clouzot (DIABOLIQUE), this courtroom drama alternates between the actual trial and flashbacks to the events leading up to the murder. It's an intense experience with a career best performance by Bardot, who up until this had been used for her sex appeal rather than her acting in cinema. The film was a huge hit in France and was nominated for a best foreign language film Oscar. It holds up quite well with our emotions conflicted between the seemingly selfish girl living in the moment yet oddly sympathetic in her desperate quest for love. It would make a good double bill with STORY OF ADELE H. There's also a disturbing subtext of how the two opposing attorneys treat the trial like a tennis court with each out to "get" points and the girl on trial seems almost superfluous to them and this is borne out in the film's icy ending. With Marie Jose Nat, Andre Oumansky and Claude Berri.