Truffaut suggests a nation straining to burst its carapace of moralism. The film's subject and its object converge in the same self-liberating social revolution that would shake the country the following year.

With its summery, Mediterranean surface, Jeanne Moreau as the ultimate femme fatale heroine and a knife-twisting tale of murderous revenge and unexpected romance, "The Bride Wore Black" is well worth rediscovering.

For all of Truffaut's digressive asides, deadpan gags, and lyrical cinephiliac touches, his slow-starting movie is overly schematic, emotionally shallow, and not so much fun.

The Bride Wore Black has a rather deft sense of humor that raises it above many of the other brightly-lit neo-noirs of the 1960s.