That Day 2003

Livia, Elsa Zylberstein, a young woman whose grasp on reality is fragile, lives on a vast estate with considerable wealth. Her days are touched by delusional visions that she records in notebooks and sometimes shares with strangers, hinting at inner worlds that others dismiss as fantasy.

Her father and the wider family, eager to secure their own gains, hatch a plan to hasten the end of her life so inheritance can pass to them. Harald, Michel Piccoli, the family patriarch, selects a dangerous option: Pointpoirot, Bernard Giraudeau, a psychiatric patient with a chilling history, to carry out the killing.

Pointpoirot is released and given instructions to kill Livia. At her estate, Livia encounters Pointpoirot outside, drawn by his odd charm—his polite manner and a striking habit (mirrorless switchblade shaving). She lets him in, seemingly charmed, until he snaps and attacks. In self-defense, Livia knocks him unconscious with a hammer, and in the resulting chaos she accidentally kills one of her unsuspecting relatives with the same weapon.

After the incident, Livia wanders the estate in a daze, unaware of the crime she’s committed. Once he awakens, Pointpoirot becomes fascinated by her bewildering behavior and agrees to help. He begins to murder family members as they appear, while the two form an unsettling bond—sharing songs and piano duets and long conversations. Throughout this, the inspector and police on the case drift passively, effectively allowing the conspiracy to unfold.

As more relatives disappear, it becomes clear that Livia does not realize they are dead; she even prepares meals using their bodies, a macabre misinterpretation of the situation. Pointpoirot and Livia grow closer, their affection blooming in the midst of horror. Harald continues to investigate and, when confronted with the carnage, finds himself with limited options and ultimately takes his own life rather than harm Livia.

With the estate enveloped in mystery, the film ends on a stark image: schoolchildren marching to class as military trucks roll past. A radio plays, recounting the massacre in a chilling, detached voice, leaving the audience with a haunting sense of the collision between wealth, innocence, and violence.