AllMovie

The sins of the children are visited upon the father in the French Le Crime des Justes. Jean Debucourt stars as a respectable legal counsellor, held in highest esteem by his friends and neighbors. The counsellor's above-reproach veneer rapidly chips away after he adopts a deaf-mute girl (Claudine Dupuis). Unable to control himself, the counsellor's son embarks on a torrid romance with his stepsister. Though geared for adults, Le Crime des Justes is handled with taste and a measure of restraint. The story concentrates not on its prurient, quasi-incestuous aspects, but on the crisis of conscience suffered by a father, who holds himself responsible for the crisis.