The Witness (1969 French film)

Synopsis

Cecile lodges with the astrologer lady Hanka, and teaches English at a college in Bruges. Cecile's horoscope is "Venus in Capricorn - the cold, winter, solitude." Cecile has a boyfriend called Thomas. Their relationship is calm and peaceful, not to say uneventful. Then Cecile meets a strange man, the museum curator Van Britten. But the old lady is shot dead. Cecile remembers having often noticed the silhouette of a man watching the house. It's Hermann, Van Britten's chauffeur.

Then the net begins to close in on Van Britten, but Cecile cannot resist seeing him again: She is as fatally intrigued by him as a bird by a snake. Sometimes she tries to get away... The climax comes in Van Britten's castle. Cecile becomes his mistress, while Hermann resolves that the witness Cecile must die, because she "knows." Van Britten and Cecile are trying to escape abroad by boat. Hermann and Van Britten are mortally wounded. Cecile studies the stars and horsoscopes: "Venus in Capricorn - the cold, winter solitude..."

Cast