The Confession

1970 · 139 min · FR · 7.3 (152 votes)

Dir. Costa-Gavras · Starring Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Gabriele Ferzetti, Michel Vitold, Jean Bouise, Michel Beaune · Music Giovanni Fusco

DramaThriller

In 1950s communist Czechoslovakia, a government minister, a war veteran long a loyal party man, leads a relatively comfortable life with his wife. However, he soon finds himself under surveillance, then under arrest. Unclear what his offense is, agents for the totalitarian regime interrogate and torture him, aiming to use their unending power to gain a false confession for these supposed crimes against the state.

VIBE

This film feels like a suffocating descent into paranoia. Every shadow hides a threat, and the walls close in with a chilling inevitability. It's a stark, unsettling portrait of a system designed to break the individual.

oppressiveclaustrophobicparanoidbleakslow-burnpolitical thrillerperiod dramachamber piecearthousebetrayalpolitical persecutionloss of freedommoral compromise

based on novel or bookczechoslovakiabased on true storysolitary confinementtorturebased on memoir or autobiographyinterrogationsecret policestalinismfalse confessionpolitical thrillershow trialinterrogatorforced confession