In this most story-like, colorful, suspenseful, “escapist"... American?... of Truffaut films, Jean-Paul Belmondo plays a wealthy industrialist living on the island of La Réunion (the locale changed from the New Orleans of the novel), who orders a bride by mail and receives, in place of his intended, Catherine Deneuve and a flimsy (but acceptable) explanation. The imposter soon absconds with his bank account, drawing him into a drama of missing persons and murder, and, finally, a love that precludes all regret and fear of death.

“(The) framework is pure film noir material, but the sentiments it contains are worthy of Jean Renoir, to whom the film is dedicated.... (It) begins as a mystery, evolves into a Hitchcockian chase suspense, and ends as a Truffautesque love story - altogether the most ambitious mix of genres so far. It is pervaded by the spirit of Renoir, not only because of its similarity with Nana and La Chienne, but more importantly because it investigates the bond between a man and a woman against the background of the full range of human experience....” -James Monaco, “The New Wave”