Mademoiselle (1966)

Set in a small French village, a sexually repressed schoolteacher (Jeanne Moreau) terrorizes the town with random acts of malevolence like arson, flooding and poisoning animals. But the prejudiced villagers place the blame on an itinerant Italian laborer (Ettore Manni) because he's an outsider and he beds their women. Based on a story by Jean Genet and directed by Tony Richardson (TOM JONES). A mesmerizing but thoroughly unpleasant film. Moreau's deceptive bitch committing motiveless crimes against the villagers (a man is killed in one of the fires she sets) is obviously sociopathic but the horrid bigoted villagers are pretty rotten too. Even the Italian laborer thinks more with his male appendage instead of his head so that reduces the sympathy factor for him. The film works for the most part but Richardson slips up with an interminable scene of Moreau and Manni making love all night while the villagers and police look for Manni. David Watkins' stunning B&W cinematography makes one nostalgic for the days of B&W cinema. With Umberto Orsini, Keith Skinner and Paul Barge.