The psychological thriller receives one of its most distinctive treatments in Paul Vecchiali’s third feature, a stylish and sophisticated investigation into the nature of compulsion. Several unhappy-looking women are murdered by a psychotic young man (Jacques Perrin), who believes these killings to be acts of mercy rather than malice. The detective assigned to the case (Julien Guiomar) becomes utterly fixated on catching his man, and will go to dubiously ethical lengths to bring the killer to justice. A complex, melancholic meditation on isolation as well as a portrait of collective hysteria, The Strangler endures as a key work within Vecchiali’s deeply underrated oeuvre. An Altered Innocence release.