The Sleeping Car Murders

The Sleeping Car Murders (also known as The Sleeping Car Murder, French title: Compartiment tueurs) is a 1965 French mystery film directed by Costa-Gavras from the novel by Sébastien Japrisot. It stars Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Michel Piccoli, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Catherine Allégret, Jacques Perrin, Charles Denner and Pascale Roberts. The film was the directorial debut of Costa-Gavras, to be followed later by other, more politically-oriented work. Plot The film begins with a young woman, Bambi (Catherine Allégret), boarding a train from Avignon to Paris. Also on her compartment are her fellow passengers, René Cabourg (Michel Piccoli), Georgette Thomas (Pascale Roberts), Rivolani (Paul Pavel), and famed actress Éliane Darrès (Allégret’s real-life mother Simone Signoret). She also meets Daniel (Jacques Perrin), a stowaway en route to Paris. After helping him avoid the ticket inspector, she allows him to sleep in an empty compartment above hers. Upon reaching Paris, realizing he had nowhere to go, she also allowed him to stay in her apartment and they start a relationship. Meanwhile, in the train, Georgette is found dead in her bunk. Police Inspector Grazziani (Yves Montand) and his assistant Jean-Lou Gabert (Claude Mann) is assigned to handle the case. The other passengers are identified and are told to contact the police as possible eyewitnesses. The police also questioned Georgette’s lover, Bob Vaski (Charles Denner). Cabourg, who was infatuated with Georgette and had been rebuffed by her on the train was the first to contact the police, but before he was able to testify, he was shot and killed by an unknown assailant. The police start questioning the passengers, starting with Darrès, arriving at her apartment at the same time as Bambi and Daniel were about to return her wallet, taken earlier by Daniel. As the police enter the apartment her lover Éric Grandin (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is seen leaving. From Darrès, the police learn about the altercation between Georgette and Cabourg. She also told them about Daniel, but as the ticket had been registered by another person, they didn’t believe her. Meanwhile Daniel and Bambi discovered a love letter from Grandin to Darrès in her wallet, as they read the letter the narration turns into a flashback and Darrès reminiscing on her relationship. As she was about to leave her apartment, Darrès was killed by the unknown assailant, while at the same time another assailant murders Rivolani.