'The Bride Was in Black') is a 1968 French drama thriller film directed by François Truffaut and based on the novel of the same name by William Irish, a pseudonym for Cornell Woolrich.

It stars Jeanne Moreau, Charles Denner, Alexandra Stewart, Michel Bouquet, Michael Lonsdale, Claude Rich and Jean-Claude Brialy.

It is a revenge film in which a widow murders the man who accidentally shot her husband on her wedding day, as well as his four friends.

As the film opens, Julie Kohler (Jeanne Moreau) tries to throw herself out of an upstairs window, but is stopped by her mother (Luce Fabiole).

In a flashback, there is a wedding procession on the steps of a church; a single shot rings out and the groom falls to the ground.

Another flashback reveals that Julie's husband was killed by a rifle shot fired by Delvaux (Daniel Boulanger), member of an informal hunting club that also included Bliss, Coral, Morane and Fergus.

After a brief pause, a man's scream is heard and the traditional "Wedding March' by Felix Mendelssohn rings out on the film soundtrack.

In fact, two years earlier, Truffaut had made Fahrenheit 451 in England in color with Nicolas Roeg as his cinematographer.

Clarification became available in 2009, when Robert Osborne introduced Turner Classic Movies' showing of The Bride Wore Black.

Coutard and Truffaut had multiple day-long arguments, and in many scenes direction to the actors was provided by the film's star, Jeanne Moreau.

[6] Roger Ebert's review in The Chicago Sun-Times was more positive, giving The Bride Wore Black 3.5 stars out of a possible four.

He praised Moreau's performance and wrote that, with the obvious tributes to Alfred Hitchcock throughout the film, Truffaut had succeeded in creating "a marriage of the French new wave and Hollywood tradition".

[8] The 1970 Jesus Franco film She Killed in Ecstasy, starring Soledad Miranda as the vengeful bride, has the same premise, but approaches the story in a more linear fashion.