Description

Includes Ten Days' Wonder, The Unfaithful Wife (La Femme Infidele), Les Biches (Bad Girls), Innocents With Dirty Hands, The Butcher (Le Boucher), This Man Must Die, La Rupture (The Breach), and Nada. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

A man¿s own personal hell¿.
Reality, or fantasy is the immediate question posed in Claude Chabrol's L'Enfer. The man who carries the mantel the"French Hitchcock" Chabrol delivers a taut, bare to the bones thriller.

When husband Paul (Francois Cluzet) begins to believe his beautiful, flirtatious wife Nelly (Emmanuelle Beart) is fooling around, his psychological demise is quick, and intense.

Chabrol brings us the story primarily from Paul's point of view, leaving many of the ambiguities, as well as the uncertainties of this tale to our own imagination.

From a script of Henri-Georges Clouzot (Diabolique, Wages of Fear) written in 1964, Chabrol updates the original (Clouzot never finished his version due to failing health, he died in 1977) giving it the contemporary setting and dialogue, but maintaining a style of presentation consistent with the thrillers of that era.

I love this early exchange: Nelly: "You're following me, Paul." Paul: "Why would I, is there any reason?" Nelly: "No, but if you keep it up, there will be."

Emmanuelle Beart shows why she is one of the world's great stars. American audiences have yet to have the best of Beart, who's English speaking debut (Mission:Impossible) seemed uneven, almost clumsy. But here she delivers on all cylinders: a beautiful seductress. Calculating? Unfaithful? We'll see.

Highly recommended.

Obsessive jealousy
Although Emmanuelle Béart (Manon des sources (1986), Un coeur en hiver (1992) etc.) is particularly beautiful in this Claude Chabrol film and entirely compelling in the role of a free-spirited wife suspected of adultery, and even though her co-star Francois Cluzet (Une affaire de femmes (1988)) does a fine job as a man obsessed with jealousy, this turns out to be an almost boring movie.

I think the problem is in the ambiguity about Nelly's infidelity that director and scriptwriter Chabrol relied on. Ambiguity by itself does not create tension. Artistic tension comes from an interplay within the mind of the viewer between an anticipated or expected result and its actual delineation. Thus in comedy we know that they will live happily ever after, and in tragedy, the fatal flaw will lead to something horrible. We can even know the end of the story, as in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet or in the Swedish film, Elvira Madigan (1967), or indeed in any number of war films, and still eagerly anticipate how it happens. In fact, I think it is always the case that we anticipate the end of a story at least in a general way: "good" will triumph over "evil," the evil person will get his or her comeuppance, the British army will win the war, etc. In modern cinema this may not seem always true since the bad guys sometimes triumph, as in noire movies. Nonetheless I think the ending of such movies is really what we expect, the revelation of the essential unfairness of the world. It becomes then only a question of just how this unfairness manifests itself. As in classic drama, the modern comédie noire may be seen as a tragedy, with society or the meek or the slow or the trusting being devoured by the wild animals of the city.

Regardless, here I think it might have been better to clearly reveal Nelly's infidelity or lack of it, early on, and then focus on its discovery or the revelation of a delusion. Obsessive jealousy is a theme that should work, but may be harder to put on film than Chabrol realized. I think too that the character of the irrationally jealous man be made manifest in some collateral way; perhaps we should see his insecurity before hand somehow; perhaps he should have some obvious shortcoming of appearance or character or there should be something from his past that leads him to irrational jealousy. Clearly an older man with a young and beautiful wife may be jealous in anticipation of the inevitable; or any man with a flirtatious wife. This is not necessarily irrational. Béart's Nelly reminds me of Brigitte Bardot from the days of her youth as in And God Created Woman (1957), a naturally warm and sensuous being, full of affection for others, very beautiful and impossibly sexy. The way Nelly walks and swings herself owes something to Bardot. The psychology of the Roger Vadim film from the fifties advanced the controversial "argument" that a woman like that needs a firm hand. Here the suggestion is that the husband's jealousy can only lead to pain and disaster, and that the only hope is complete trust. What I am trying to say is that the psychology, like the tension of the film, seemed at loose ends. It is clear before we are halfway through that Nelly really loves her husband, the real question being, is he enough for her? I also think that Nelly's character should have included something negative in it (she seems a little too good to be true), something the viewer could relate to, perhaps a past infidelity or betrayal.

Charbol is a better director than this film might indicate. See the aforementioned Une affaire de femmes (1988) starring Isabelle Huppert as an example of what he can do.

A choice piece of Cinematic presentation
This is a wonderful piece of work. It makes you tingle they way in which jealosy is portrayed as a person living in fear, anger and desperation. The iterview and commentary from the the director was also profound.

One of the best films I've ever seen.

This don't Be-art
The film: "What a horrible little film Claude Chabrol has made!" [I translate loosely.] The French reviews must have gone something like this. When the critics of Cahiers du Cinema gave the nod of approval to an "auteur", it was nearly impossible for him to fall from grace. In re-watching "l'Enfer", I can at least speak for myself in saying that he wrote himself off of the list of directors in whom I place some trust... and into the shadowy realm of "has-been"s. I would be surprised if the critics felt differently.

Why do I despise this film so intensely? First and foremost, none of it is in the least bit original... or believable. Paul and Nelly meet one afternoon at his newly purchased hotel, as by chance. He looks her over, clowns around a bit, etc. Flash forward to wedding. And so on. There is no relationship developed between the two, nor any reason for their love to exist at all. I can forgive one such transgression in the first five minutes of a film, but come on! I mean... to call this plot Swiss cheese does cows everywhere a helluva disservice! Paul's reasons for doubting his wife's fidelity are based on loose, circumstantial evidence, yet, somehow, this kind father and doting husband slips into a personal hell of his own creation: INSANE jealousy! Is Chabrol kidding with this crap? I can't believe that this is the same director who gave us such an honest, compelling vision of psychosis 25 years earlier in "Les Bonnes Femmes". What could have happened over that time for to have regressed to creating this imbecilic, one-sided portrait of obsession that is nearly as silly a cautionary tale as "Reefer Madness".

It is almost pointless to evaluate the performances of the cast, given the poor quality of the script (not to mention editing that manifestly shows that Chabrol's cinematic "language" never made it out of the 1960s)... but I will. Emmanuelle Beart is superb, as she usually is, as a bouncy, innocently flirtacious young wife and later as a battered, defeated prisoner of the evil Paul. Her talents are utterly wasted here, for, as one of the garage mechanics said in Stephen King's "Christine", "You can't polish a turd." Francois Cluzet delivers an over-the-top Paul that ranks up there with Eric Roberts' performance in "Star 80" (though not nearly as convincing.) Sure, he's got ample reason to be insecure... but the dizzying heights to which he carries his all-consuming distrust simply aren't warranted by the scanty clues of his cuckolding. The rest of the cast are fine in their nearly invisible roles.

Final words on the film: If this is supposed to be "mature" work, it is little wonder that Chabrol has been excluded from winning nearly every major award. I am frankly shocked that the great Clouzot wrote the majority of this screenplay. I'd like to think that Chabrol's adaptation is at fault, but perhaps there was a reason that Clouzot never shot it. In sum, the only "hell" is sitting through this mindless exercise in misogyny.

The DVD: Possibly the worst transfer in my 1000+ DVD collection. Here are some general adjectives: dull, muted, washed out, grainy, pixellated (wish I'd been when I was watching it!), dark... and riddled with artifacts, flashes and even skips! No... not just DVD skips, of which there were plenty, but ACTUAL GAPS IN THE FILM! What kinda busted, to' up print did Fox Lorber use for this transfer? It looks worse than the VHS. I even have a suspicion that a VHS tape was the source, and an over-rented one at that. Oh... and let me hurl one last insult at this disgraceful, cocktail coaster of a DVD: When I said "dark" before, I meant that the night scenes were so black at times that my television threatened to collapse on itself and suck me through a black hole in to the land of bad cinema. But, no worries... I got there on foot by the end of the film!

My verdict: A must-not see. A waste of money. I'd be afraid to sell this kind of garbage on eBay and would pity the fool who'd buy it (as I foolishly did.) I'm tempted to write out the 101 best uses for this DVD, though I'd exceed Amazon's 1000 word limit. The bottom line is... If you like Claude Chabrol, see "Les Biches" or "Les Bonnes Femmes" or "Le Boucher"... or nearly any of his pre-1970 films. If you like Emmanuelle Beart, see "Manon des Souces" or "La Belle Noiseuse" (and by the way... If you want to see her in the nude, you're out of luck in "l'Enfer", you dirty rascal!) And if you like Francois Cluzet, I seriously question whether you recognize good acting, despite the fact that he's appeared in several solid films. [Question: Do you also think that Jean-Pierre Leaud was a fine performer after "The 400 Blows", when he "learned" to "act", simply because he starred in "Porcile" and "Last Tango in Paris"?]

I'm going to sprinkle myself with holy water after this abomination and turn in for the night. If you choose to buy this film, heedless of my words, you may want to invite your local exorcist over to watch it with you.

Can't decide one way or the other.
For the first half hour of L'Enfer, and with an urgent pace, Chabrol shows every reason and indication that Nelly is cheating on Paul. But after that, it becomes frusterating and hard to know for sure.

Ultimately, Paul was dillusional. But the first 30 minutes still makes me wonder. I guess it's up to you to decide how faithful Nelly is and what really happens at the end. ... Read more

Description

In La Cérémonie, Claude Chabrol, known as the "French Hitchcock," creates one of his most shocking and unforgettable thrillers. Catherine (Jacqueline Bisset - Day for Night, The Deep) hires the illiterate Sophie as her maid. But Sophie (Sandrine Bonnaire - Femme Fatale) soon falls under the influence of the mysterious Jeanne (Isabelle Huppert -The Piano Player, Merci Pour Le Chocolat), and the stage is set for a tale of murder, violence and betrayal. One of the Chabrol's most acclaimed films, and the winner of numerous international awards, La Cérémonie is a masterpiece of suspense. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

flatter than the DVD
Anyone who claims to have liked this movie can only have said so after
having read the book. Without the book as background there is no point of watching this movie. It was loyally re-enacted but skipped through scenes of the book like a skipping stone over water,
never getting below the suface. The cinematography for a movie about passion
was flat. The lighting was probably done with two hardware
store flood lamps. The scenes were layed out like a low budget neighborhood cultural center production. No great scores. No ones eyes ever meet. Never a breathtaking moment. I just rented this movie after spending
the last week getting through the book. I wasn't moved by the book's plot but I had imagined a movie adaptation enhancing the storyline. I love Isabelle Huppert but she was totally miscast for the role. She's way too old and there's nothing provincial about her. See her instead in Merci Pour le Chocolat. I was expecting something along the lines of The Piano, but got instead someting along the lines of a cardboard box.

flatter tham the DVD
Anyone who claims to have liked this movie can only have said so after
having read the book. Without the book as background there is no point of watching this movie. It was loyally re-enacted but skipped through scenes of the book like a skipping stone over water,
never getting below the suface. The cinematography for a movie about passion
was flat. The lighting was probably done with two hardware
store flood lamps. The scenes were layed out like a low budget neighborhood cultural center production. No great scores. No ones eyes ever meet. Never a breathtaking moment. I just rented this movie after spending
the last week getting through the book. I wasn't moved by the book's plot but I had imagined a movie adaptation enhancing the storyline. I love Isabelle Huppert but she was totally miscast for the role. She's way too old and there's nothing provincial about her. See her instead in Merci Pour le Chocolat. I was expecting something along the lines of The Piano, but got instead someting along the lines of a cardboard box.

C"EST MAGNIFIQUE...
This is an excellent adaptation of the Gustave Flaubert novel of the same name. Isabelle Huppert is superb as the central character, Emma, a prosperous farmer's daughter, who marries a doctor, Charles Bovary (Jean Francois Balmer). He is a kind and gentle soul who adores her and wants nothing more than to make her happy. The problem is that he does not know how. Even Emma does not really know what would make her happy.

This is the story of Emma Bovary and her unhappy, wasted, shallow life. She is a woman who on the surface seems to have everything, an adoring, doting husband, a lovely, healthy daughter, an attractive well appointed home. Yet, she is unhappy. She loathes her husband, finding him pedantic and dull. She has little time for her daughter and seems to have little motherly instincts. What worldly goods she has never seem to ber enough.

Seeking fulfillment, she takes lovers who always seem to fail her in the end. She mistakes passion for love and never fails to be disappointed when that love turns out to be fleeting, blind to the love that exists under her very own roof. As her unhappiness and dissatisfaction grow, so does the beauty of her wardrobe. Beautifully gowned and accessorized, Emma Bovary is as beautiful as she is shallow. She spends what she does not have on passing fripperies, only to have her world eventually come crashing down around her. She takes the easy way out of her self inflicted misery and, in doing so, consigns those who had the misfortune to truly love her to a doomed existence.

Claude Chabrol deftly directed this arresting period piece, exacting wonderful performances from the entire cast. Isabelle Huppert is perfectly cast as Emma Bovary with her icy beauty and gives a performance that is on the money. Jean Francois Balmer is also notable for his portrayal of her doting and supportive husband. This is an excellent, value priced film, one that is well worth having in one's collection. Period piece lovers will especially enjoy this film.

A true Madame Bovary
This movie is one of the best renditons of Gustave Flaubert's classic novel. The actors do a wonderful job giving depth to the characters and it is a wonderful adaptive screenplay. I recommend this version of all others except for maybe the one with Francis O'Conner.

Madame Bovary
Nobody could play the role better than Isabelle Huppert! I have red the book and seen the film. Never have I seen a film more "loyal" to such a wonderful book, than the film made by Claude Chabrol. And Isabelle Huppert gives us the most wonderful representation of the young Madame Bovary. She truely transmites us the idea of a woman who lives in another world; whose soul is restless, sufering, bored and longing for a glamourous life. If one likes the book, the film by Claude Chabrol will certainly not be disappointing! ... Read more

Description

Saint Tropez.Julie Wormser and her lover, writer and neighbour Jeff Marle, plan the murder of her wealthy husband Louis, an impotent who drinks a lot.She hits him, and leaves the rest of the task to Jeff.Julie finds herself alone the following day, and becomes therefore the prime suspect.Where is Louis' body?Where is Jeff?Is there any secret beyond a door?Nothing is what it seems in this highly acclaimed taut thriller. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Chabrol's sexiest film
Opening scene: Romy Schneider is sunbathing outdoors on the lush green lawn of her San Tropez estate, nude. A mans kite slowly comes to rest on Romy's back. The man approaches and asks if he can retrieve his kite. Romy rolls over exposing herself and asks, "is there anything else you want?". So begins Claude Chabrols 1975 Innocents With Dirty Hands.

Chabrol has made lots of movies and this in my estimation is his sexiest. Usually in his late sixties and early seventies pictures Stephane Audran is Chabrol's star and she is beautiful but also icy cold. Audran seems encased in her beauty and expresses very little in the way of emotion. It is nice to see an actress in a Chabrol film who express as much emotion and sensuality as Romy Schneider and there are lots of different kinds of emotions and sensuality to be expressed in Innocents. As to be expected in a Chabrol film the plot involves infidelity and murder but unlike many of Chabrols other treatments of his pet themes this film has some real heat. Chabrol loves to film the decadence of the rich as they enjoy their leisures and pleasures and San Tropez provides the perfect setting for this story of the idle rich playing dangerous games. Hitchcock is always mentioned in the same breath as Chabrol but Chabrol subverts Hitchcock as much as he borrows from him. In Hitchcock no matter how complicated things got there was always a comfortable resolution. In Chabrol complications do not work themselves out so neatly. Things get tangled and they remain tangled. In Chabrol's world everyone is a fallen creature, each character just realizes it in a different way and at a different time. Romy Schneider appears in one striking outfit after another, including one scene in a very cool caftan, another in black silk with cascades of diamonds. Her sensuality seems luxurious and this is a woman who basks in the glow of her luxury. Two men want her bad enough to kill, her husband played by Rod Steiger and the kite flying writer who lives next door. One plot gives way to another as each character tries to gain the upper hand. I've seen maybe 20 Chabrol fims and this one I would place very near the top of the list. The acting is tremendous by the main three characters and by the minor characters as well, ie the police detectives(great duo of detectives) and lawyer(great actor, Jean Rochefort). The ending as always with Chabrol is unexpected. A very sexy and very satisfying film which will please the most discerning filmgoer and delight anyone who already considers themselves a Chabrol fan. Also recommeded by Chabrol: La Ceremonie, Wedding in Blood, Le Boucher, The Unfaithful Woman(Le Femme Infidele), Cry of the Owl & This Man Must Die.

psychological thriller
i remember this movie from when I was a young girl growing up in Europe, but haven't seen it in years. Romy Schneider was a great actress and that alone makes it worth seeing. It impressed me so much at the time, I'll give it four stars...also recommended: Chabrol's "The Butcher" (Le Boucher).

Maintains a heart-stopping pace all the way through.
This loosely adapted biography of prima ballerina Jodi Lee Pavlova involves her affair with Rudolph Nureyev and the hundreds of impossible-to-detect ways she made her permanent mark on the ballet world. It was she who defined the now classic character of the little matchstick girl in the well known ballet "Ou Est La Bibliotheque, Bebe?" by appearing onstage under harsh lighting with a lit cigarette in her mouth, curses on her ruby lips, and a bad attitude that won hearts all over the world. But the scene she is most famous for is the 1977 Covent Garden Christmas Eve production of the Nutcracker. For it was there that she and Nureyev cemented their permanent love-hate, sex-surfing-disco-and-death manifesto by actually slugging it out in the lobby during intermission. Along the way to becoming a legend in her own time, she is widely credited with introducing the elegant, aloof, Nureyev to bowling and putt-putt golf, sex in glass elevators at high noon, crank phone calls in the middle of the night, insomniac pirouettes on balcony railings on weekday evenings, and obscure Chinese wines every weekend (who in the ballet world can forget the sight of Nureyev onstage as Prince Floramund with the "head shivers"). In return, Nureyev became her often petulant, blatantly misogynistic, constantly carping, somewhat embittered, often disoriented,love slave. And oh my! Can anyone ever forget her cat claws bared, fur flying, spitting and howling, tutu-ripping backstage brawl with Gelsey Kirkland after Kirkland called Nureyev "a lunatic?" Cinematographer Boogie Scheinfranken has created a timeless work of stunning visual beauty as seen through a prism of stage lighting and lots of glittering green eyeshadow (Nureyev's). A Must See! ... Read more

Description

Le Boucher (The Butcher) is possibly Claude Chabrol's best known and critically acclaimed film.At a friend's wedding, Helen meets Popaul (Yanne), an ex-soldier with combat honors from Algeria and Indo-China, who has returned to his hometown and the family trade of butchery.The two are attracted to each other, but Helene is reluctant to get involved, as a previous lover has hurt her.Shortly after Popaul's arrival in town, the body of a murdered girl is found.When Helene discovers a second victim and a vital piece of evidence that seems to link Popaul to the murders, she reluctantly suspects her new found friend.Consistently taut, with engrossing twists, Le Boucher (The Butcher) is an intense and enthralling thriller. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

...a passionate story in the backdrop of murder...
Le Boucher is a passionate story about the French countryside butcher, Popaul (Jean Yanne) falling in love with the town's head teacher, Helene (Stéphane Audran), which is set in a backdrop of a series of grisly murders. Helene is hesitant on entrusting Popaul, as she has been burnt before in a previous relationship, but Popaul remains devoted on pursuing Helene's trust and affection. Slowly, Helene opens up to Popaul's devotion to find herself in a troubling situation. La Boucher is slow paced and this is done through tedious effects that provide a strong idea of Popaul's determination to gain Helene's affection. This leaves the viewer with an outstanding cinematic experience that offers much thought of the psychology behind the ending.

A poor version of a great movie
As an earlier reviewer has observed this film needs to be seen letterboxed. Despite saying 'letterboxed' on the DVD box, this version (from Patherfinder Home Entertainment) could not be viewed by my standard DVD player in letterbox form.

DVD info
According to the packaging this DVD is meant to be letter-boxed (enhanced for 16X9 televisions). Yes and no. On my up-scale DVD player the DVD projects in full-screen mode. Like most DVD players in the U.S. there is no X-Y feature to correct this. My odd ball brand region-free DVD player does, however, play the DVD in letterbox (though it needed quite a lot of correcting using the X-Y feature). Go figure. Since the film is a wide aspect ratio (the packaging doesn't state the ratio but I'm guessing somewhere around 2.7:1) it is very important that it be viewed letterbox. The DVD has an audio commentary delivered by a couple film school teachers who spend a little too much time entertaining each other, though I've heard much worse commentaries on much more expensive DVDs. The only other special feature is a trailer. Obviously I'm rating the DVD high on the basis of the film alone. Le Boucher is a great film. Chabrol's films frequently have a plot arch that is virtually flat. Everybody compares Chabrol to Hitchcock, and there are certainly plenty of visual references to Hitchcock, but Hitchcock would never tell stories this way, without melodrama, about people this irredeemably emotionally blunted. (IMDB has some reviews of this film that miss the point that the teach Helene is every bit as evil as the butcher.) Not every Chabrol film works for me every viewing but I've never been able to turn away when watching this film.

The Ancient and the New
Superb. Excellent. And every other superlative you can think of.
Funny how when you see a bad or flawed movie you are full of words but in the presaence of a masterpiece you are speechless. From the beginning sequence in caves while the credits roll to the final scene of Stephane Audran by the sea you are speechless as before a painting which captures an ineffable mystery.
Most of Chabrol films involve the wealthy but this one follows two very humble lives in a rural French village near the mountains. The town butcher meets the schools headmistress at a mutual friends wedding and from there on the film follows their unusual courtship. He served in the military for 15 years and has seen his fill of bloodshed and waste and as a result he has aquired a rather maudlin view of life. She suffered heartbreak 10 years previous to their meeting and has kept her distance from men ever since. But then they meet and there is an immediate attraction beyond eithers control. The caves that Chabrol so evocatively photographs and which the headmistress provides a rather intriguing commentary on link the everyday goings on of life in the village with human natures primitive past. Meanwhile somewhere in the countryside a murderer runs loose. Chabrol like the master that he is suggests more than he tells. The viewer is given a rich assortment of things to meditate upon and many interesting paths to follow but the atmosphere of the film remains the real allure of this perfectly structured study of two lives. The atmosphere is created with music, excellent cinematography including some astounding long views of the mountain valley at different times of the day, and those interiors with the cave drawings which are echoed in Stephane Audrans apartment which is lined with prints and paintings. The mystery at the heart of this is the mystery of human nature. if you love Chabrol there is no more essential film in his catalogue than this one. If you love French film this was called "the most important french film since the liberation" by Le Figaro and if you just love film this will become a savoured gem in your collection.

"BEAST DE JOUR"
A Poetic study of lonely people [the schoolteacher and the village butcher] recognizing each other's needs, and dealing with darker impulses along their way ...... with an almost pedantic and analytical lens, M. Chabrol guides you through this maze with deliberate intent.

Deliberately paced and quite terrifying it is well worthwhile. The utter bleakness and isolation of the characters communicates directly to you. You are also clearly reminded of primitive urges briefly veneered by "current society", all too willing to ermerge, when an opportunity presents itself, and conditions apply..........!

You are left with a chilly vision of "what lies beneath" Country airs, without being unnecessarily graphic.

Unsettling "chemistry" between Jean Yanne and Stephanie Audren. SHE is especially terrifying during the final moments of the movie.

Disturbing/Contemporary. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The bonnes femmes of Claude Chabrol's film are four shop girls ata small appliance store in Paris. Good-time girl Bernadette Lafont spends her nights in empty flirtations with boorish womanizers, while social-climbing Lucile Saint-Simon withers under the disdainful gaze of her boyfriend's haughty parents. Seemingly confident Stéphane Audran secretly follows her dream of singing on the stage (losing her composure when she recognizes her friends in the audience), and demure Clotilde Joano holds out for the romantic notion of pure, innocent love. It's her story that Chabrol favors when she falls under the gaze of a motorcycle-riding stalker who finally reveals himself to be a shy, lovesick suitor, a Prince Charming in black leather. Les Bonnes Femmes was a flop when released, but has since been embraced as one of Chabrol's best films and a masterpiece of the French new wave. There's a breezy naturalism that invigorates the film: easy, seemingly spontaneous ensemble performances, the immediacy of shooting on location, and a loose, episodic story full of rich detail. But this is no urban fairy tale: the dreams of these girls are frustrated by a tawdry and brutal world in a shocking, sad finale. Never callous or dismissive, there's a fragile beauty to Chabrol's troubled portrait as he stubbornly holds out hope for these dreamers in a delicately melancholy coda. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Description

From acclaimed director Claude Chabrol (La Cérémonie, Merci Pour Le Chocolat) comes the compelling true story of working-class housewife Marie (Isabelle Huppert- The Piano Player, 8 Women), who performs illegal abortions in France during World War II, evading the Nazis, and betraying those she loves. Brought to life by Chabrol on actual locations, The Story of Women is an honest, original, and utterly absorbing film, which won Isabelle Huppert Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

An incredible true story
This powerful Claude Chabrol film, "The Story of Women" stars the incredibly talented Isabelle Huppert as Frenchwoman, Marie Latour--the last woman in France to die on the Guillotine. The story takes place in German-occupied Paris in the 1940s. Latour, whose husband is away fighting in WWII, barely manages to feed herself and her two children. Living in a tiny apartment, eating nettle soup, Latour accidentally stumbles on a lucrative profession when she performs her first abortion on a neighbour. Soon, women are flocking to Latour for her illegal services, and she rakes the money in--oblivious of the risks she runs--for herself and for her customers.

When Latour's husband returns, he accepts the situation--although he is more than a little disgruntled at Marie's new independence; however, times are tough, and he doesn't complain about the financial benefits of Marie's new profession. The Latour family prospers as others struggle, and soon the Latours expand their business dealings into new avenues....

Huppert's acting is, as always, incomparable. As the intense, single-minded, hard, and yet oddly-childlike Latour, Huppert is both believable and sympathetic. If you are a fan of French film, then this film is an absolute MUST see. Chabrol is one of my favourite directors, and Huppert is my favourite actress--their talents combined create an unforgettable viewing experience.

Worth seeing once, but leaves a sour taste
Despite reviews to the commentary, this is not exactly a pro-choice movie (the director is too subtle for that). It is true that the men in the film (French or German) are boorishly ignorant about women's bodies, needs, and aspirations. But, as the director makes clear, the ladies are unreflective about abortion and its philosophical implications. The Huppert character is no heroine. She shamelessly favors her daughter over her son (who really needs his mother more). Huppert nags her shiftless husband to breaking point. And while all ordinary French citizens were locked in a struggle to survive during the Occupation -- confronted daily with sickening dilemmas -- the Huppert character in this film is to all intents and purposes a successful black-marketeer, who plays the system well. Rather too well; pride comes before a fall. Huppert's astringency suits the part, although Trintignant as her hooker pal is more sympathetic.

Abortion in Nazi-occupied France
Claude Charbrol's stark and unsentimental masterpiece about the last woman to be executed in France--she was guillotined for performing abortions in Nazi-occupied France during World War II--forces us to see a side of war not often depicted. What does a woman with two little children do when her country is occupied by the brute forces of the enemy? How is she to find enough to eat, to buy the increasingly scarce and costly necessities of life? How is she to find joy in life? Women often turn to prostitution during such times, but Maire Latout does not. Instead she aborts the foetuses of the prostitutes and of other women impregnated, often by the Nazis. In a sense this is her "resistence." However she prospers and takes up with a Nazi collaborator. In the process she reduces her husband to frustration and humiliation.

Isabelle Huppert as Marie Latout is mesmerizing in a role that allows her talent full latitude. She is clear-headed and sly as a business woman, warm and ordinary as a mother, cold and brutal as a wife, childish and careless as an adulteress, resourceful and fearless as an abortionist, and unrepentant as she awaits the executioner (foreshadowed, by the way, by her son, who wants to be an executioner when he grows up). Francois Cluzet plays her husband Paul, and he is also very good, especially at rousing our pity. Charbrol makes it clear that both Marie and Paul are victims, not only of war, but of their divergent natures. Paul wants the love of Marie, but she wants only a man that represents success and power, a man who is clean-shaven, not the menial worker that he is. Marie Trintignant is interesting and convincing as a prostitute who becomes Marie Latout's friend and business associate.

While abortion is indeed "Une affaire de femmes" this film is about much more than that. No doubt the title is there to emphasize Charbrol's point that men really do not (did not then, and do not now) really understand abortion and why it is sometimes a horrible and abject necessity. When Marie is taken to Paris for a show trial she exclaims to a woman in jail with her, referring to the court that will pass judgment on her, "It's all men...how could men understand?" We can see that men really can't, and that precisely is what this movie is all about: showing us just how horrible pregnancy can be under the circumstances of enemy occupation.

A secondary story here, not quite a subplot, is Paul's story. What does a man do when he and his children are dependent on a woman who doesn't love him, a woman who rejects him and even goes so far as to arrange for the cleaning woman to sleep with him? It is not only Marie who humiliates him, but it is the defeat of his country, the easy surrender to the Nazis that has so reduced him. This is made clear in a scene late in the film between two lawyers who voice their shame as Frenchmen in a time of defeat.

What Paul does is not pretty (and I won't reveal it here), but so great is the provocation that one understands his behavior and can forgive him.

Classic Chabrol/Huppert
Isabelle Huppert won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival for her delicate performance as Marie LaTout, said to be based on the true story of Marie Louise Giraud, who was guillotined in occupied France as an abortionist and profiting from the earnings of prostitutes. Perhaps no other director presents Huppert as well as Claude Chabrol, which explains why he likes to cast her so often. He frames her sad beautiful face in closeup to remind us of Garbo, though Huppert lacks Garbo's exquisite physical and spiritual languor. Chabrol's spare treatment of the tale underlines the hypocrisy of the execution, rationalised under the name of "moral restoration of the State" when the French were actively collaborating with the German's persecution of the Jews. The narrative also has a strong feminist stance, since Marie is a passive innocent, who sees her actions as helping other women with unwanted pregnancies, and rents her home to a prostitute because she is a friend who represents a woman who was taken from Marie for being Jewish. In prison she points out men cannot understand what she has done, and all the jury are men. Marie's tragedy reminds me a little of Madame Bovary (a later effort by Chabrol and Huppert) since she has ambition yet is stifled by her marriage to a man she does not love. We forgive her infidelity since she is so loving to her two children, and because she even arranges another sexual partner for her husband. In response to the latter extraordinary offer, he expresses his gratitude by reporting her to the police. Chabrol gives us some clever forbodings - a goose beheaded at a fair, Marie's son wish to be an executioner, Marie being a singer, her husband's cutouts hobby. I also like the predominance of blue in the colour scheme to show the glumness of Vichy apartments and the Paris prison, the use of rain, and the restraint in the abortion sequences. And while Huppert's singing voice may not be great it is a delight to see how happy it makes her. Special mention is made of the music by Matthieu Chabrol, reminiscent of Faure.

A triumph for Chabrol and Huppert
Isabelle Huppert won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival for her delicate performance as Marie LaTout, said to be based on the true story of Marie Louise Giraud, who was guillotined in occupied France as an abortionist and profiting from the earnings of prostitutes. Perhaps no other director presents Huppert as well as Claude Chabrol, which explains why he likes to cast her so often. He frames her sad beautiful face in closeup to remind us of Garbo, though Huppert lacks Garbo's exquisite physical and spiritual languor. Chabrol's spare treatment of the tale underlines the hypocrisy of the execution, rationalised under the name of "moral restoration of the State" when the French were actively collaborating with the German's persecution of the Jews. The narrative also has a strong feminist stance, since Marie is a passive innocent, who sees her actions as helping other women with unwanted pregnancies, and rents her home to a prostitute because she is a friend who represents a woman who was taken from Marie for being Jewish. In prison she points out men cannot understand what she has done, and all the jury are men. Marie's tragedy reminds me a little of Madame Bovary (a later effort by Chabrol and Huppert) since she has ambition yet is stifled by her marriage to a man she does not love. We forgive her infidelity since she is so loving to her two children, and because she even arranges another sexual partner for her husband. In response to the latter extraordinary offer, he expresses his gratitude by reporting her to the police. Chabrol gives us some clever forbodings - a goose beheaded at a fair, Marie's son's wish to be an executioner, Marie being a singer. I also like the predominance of blue in the colour scheme to show the glumness of Vichy apartments and the Paris prison, the use of rain, and the restraint in the abortion sequences. And while Huppert's singing voice may not be great it is a delight to see how happy it makes her. Special mention is made of the music by Matthieu Chabrol, reminiscent of Faure. ... Read more

Description

Directed by Claude Chabrol, Les Biches is a landmark in film history: its theme of bisexuality and upper-class decadence is surpassed only by its cool precision of cinematic style and exceptionally subtle performances.Socialite Frederique (Stephane Audran) encounters young student Why (Jacqueline Sassard) on the streets of Paris, seduces her and whisks her off to spend winter with the chic crowd of St. Tropez.When architect Paul (Jean Louis Trintignant) meets Why, he too charms her and comes between the two lovers.Frederiqe then seduces Paul out of jealousy, but finds herself feeling real love.Paul and Frederique invite Why to live together with them, resulting in a ménage a trios beset by jealousy, madness, and ultimately, murder. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

A nation without shame
Admittedly this film is propaganda produced during an occupation by fascist Germany, but it is very educational in explaining why more Americans were probably killed by the French during WWII than were saved by them. Including the Northern Africa campaign of serious battles where Allied forces were attacked by French military loyal to Petain's Vichy government, as well as the millions of Frenchmen who assisted the Nazi war machine in their munitions factories, there is no question that the French were more the enemy of the Allies than they would ever be willing to admit today. For anyone who thinks that French diplomatic treachery is a new phenomenon in the war against Islamofascism, they should see this film. No wonder Chabrol was widely condemned in France for shining the light on this ugly chapter in French history. It is something any nation should be ashamed of. But unfortunately they have learned nothing from their ignominy as well documented by their own propagandists.

Disappointing, tendentious hash of newsreel clips
I can't imagine what Claude Chabrol's involvement with this project amounted to. Did he stand around and chat while others edited at the movieola? Did he look at an assortment of newsreels and pick out a few to give the compilation a narrative structure? Whatever, it wasn't much of a contribution. I suspect his name is on the package to give it credibility.

This is a predictably anti-Petainist, anti-collabo montage of newsreel clips from the early 1940s. The original footage was produced by the German occupiers and French collaborationists, so it would seem that both sides get to have their say. Actually we are given only one point of view--the Gaullist one.

Great film for French class
This is a great video to show in advanced or AP French classes. It helps students better understand what life was like under Nazi occupation in France, and it affords a glimpse into everyday French life as it was in the 1940's.
The only problem I encountered with this video was that the audio track was malfunctionning - there was such an echo at times that it was impossible to understand what was being said - I had to return my copy of the video because of that. But I was so impressed with the film that I'll reorder another copy, and hope that it was just a problem with that particular videocassette that I had.

I would recommend this film to anyone interested in French life, in WWII historical data or in Nazi occupation of France.

I was there
I was only 7 years old when the Germans occupied my city in 1940, but I remember many of the events depicted in this documentary. This film is great, especially for those interested in the history of France during the war years, and a reminder of what it was like for those who were there.

German and its French ally's propaganda against the Allies
I saw this film for extra credit for a college French class. It was wonderful to see so much old news footage and speeches from the 1940s in Europe. It was interesting to see how successfully the Nazis and their French collaborators (some of the French) manipulated their own peoples into thinking a unified Europe under Germany was the only answer. That is all this film is: a collection of newsreels and speeches given by both French and Germans with an English subtitle. Yet it is a wonderfully put together 'documentary'. ... Read more

Description

Winner of one French Academy Award and nominated for a second, hailed by audiences and critics alike, "The Cry of the Owl" is a landmark psychological thriller from director Claude Chabrol, France's Master of Suspense. A peeping tom comes face to face with the object of his obsession, only to find her even more dangerously dysfunctional than himself. Four unstable individuals converge as a doomed love triangle devolves into violence. Unavailable for 15 years, All Day Entertainment restores Chabrol's giddy thriller with a gorgeous letterboxed transfer from the 35mm masters. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Thanatos, nocturne in e, night symphony
Chabrol is the French master of suspense. His most succesful films are the ones in which he extends the bounds(though not too far) of the tried and true Hitchcockian formula. La Femme Infidele(68) and Le Boucher(69) as well as La Ceremonie(97) are considered masterpieces. He also has several films that are near masterpieces. But as a director who directs one film a year he also has made a lot of forgettable pictures as well. Cry of the Owl is not a masterpiece but it is one of Chabrols more memorable efforts. Few pictures have been more aptly and evocatively titled. The lead character is a moribund architect with a sadistic ex-wife who paints birds of prey. And in his spare time he spies on a chosen prey of his own, a lovely and innocent looking young woman. But she too, once met, proves equally moribund. The story is stark and each new character met presents yet another twist or turn, (or twisted turn). It is a long dark tunnel of a movie and there is little hope offered that there will be any coming out the other side. Some of Chabrols best work is dark but in his best films there are moments of comic relief as in the very funny outdoor love scenes in his under rated Wedding in Blood(73). Cry of the Owl is a darkly hued ode of a movie which is very good at what it does. The actors are not particularly exciting just competent and the locales are rather unextraordinary but it is a well executed and rare, very rare, kind of movie that presents its dark vision with no apologies or compromises for mere entertainments sake. Chabrol loyalists will be glad to have this and Highsmith readers will too but not many more will really want to go here.
Perhaps the only major flaw is that with so many dark chords being struck one begins to become tone deaf by movies end. The dark tones would stand out more if there were something offered in contrast. There is nothing so much as a kiss in this movie. A voyeur movie that is not sensual nor erotic. Bold and haunting. Creepy and cold. Chabrol perhaps has strayed even further than usual from his Hitchcockian formula for success and trespassed into a not easily defined genre between psychological mystery and supernatural thriller. His best of the eighties, but then the eighties was not Chabrols best decade.

Brilliant psychological thriller
Patricia Highsmith is known for her intelligent thrillers--chief among them The Talented Mr. Ripley (filmed twice)--and this film is no exception. Based on Highsmith's novel of the same name and directed by the inestimable Claude Chabrol, this becomes increasingly disturbing as it progresses until, at the end, we are chilled to the bone.

The story of Robert Forestier, a man who initially seems to have the minor vice of peeping (minor because he does not practice this when his "victim" is nude, but clothed), it becomes darker as we find out that the object of his scrutiny, Juliette, is herself skewed, although in a dramatically different way. And that Robert's ex-wife has her own unusual predilections. As does Juliette's boyfriend Paul.

Not only that, but there is something far more disturbing about Robert than his peeping, and that should not be revealed here. Is he a murderer? No. Let's just say it does have something to do with death, however. The intricate and intelligent interplay of the four main characters give this film an unusually powerful structure and tone.

Made in 1987, it has rarely been equalled and is absolutely worth owning. Without question, it's one of Chabrol's best films, matched in recent years only by his filming of another crime novel written by a British woman (Ruth Rendell), La Ceremonie.

The best Highsmith adaptation?
It is truly amazing how many superb films have been made from Patricia Highsmith's novels, but most of them alter her distinctly unsettling universe in ways that make them no longer Highsmith adaptations, but something else -- perhaps better, but not the same. This film, however, perfectly captures that grim and usually merciless world.

'The Cry of the Owl' is also one of the most efficient suspense movies I have seen. Perhaps because (despite what I said above) I had not read this particular novel, I found it almost unbearable to watch the events unfold. The suspense is on two levels. First, most conventionally, we care about what happens to the 'hero' and he is in quite a fix. Second, we never really know how the film is going to develop. It has a bit of the flavor of the recent 'A Simple Plan,' in which things never quite work out as expected, but I think it is considerably better. In particular, whereas 'A Simple Plan' pretty much settled down to a conventional plotline about half way through, 'The Cry of the Owl' continues to keep us off balance.

The new DVD is very nice. There is a very interesting and informative commentary, and the quality of the picture and sound is very good. I will give one piece of consumer advice: I originally (tried) to watch the film on my laptop and found the image too dark to watch in comfort. However, when I played it on a television it looked really good, and the high rating to the picture given by other reviewers was well justified. I cannot explain the discrepancy between the two media, but just in case you have a problem like mine, try using the TV.

UH OH, PEEPING TOM MEETS HIS FANTASY
Claude Chabrol's long unavailable 1987 psychological thriller "THE CRY OF THE OWL" or "Le Cri du Hibou" has been restored by All Day Entertainment in a stunning letterbox transfer from the pristine 35mm masters. This jewel of deception and romance from France's master of suspense centers on the unexpected relationship between a peeping tom and the subject of his fantasy. It's really unfair to say anything more about the plot except that while watching this giddy, unconventional movie you soon realize it's notgoing where you thought. Suffice it to say that when four highly unstable people merge in a love triangle, someone better cherck his math fast because 4 into three won't go. Unanimously praised by critics and audiences, winner of one French Academy Award and nominated for another, this is one to own. ... Read more

Description

Philippe Noiret (Il Postino, 'Round Midnight) delivers a brilliant performance as a TV Game show host turned killer in Claude Chabrol#s Masques. Roland Wolf is writing a book on the life of TV personality Christian Legagneur (Noiret) - or is he? He spends a weekend doing research for his project and he meets Legagneur's oddball friends and juvenile charge who suffers from a mysterious ailment. A deadly game of cat and mouse, Masques will keep you guessing from first frame to last. ... Read more

Description

Praised by critics and audiences alike, Nada represents a shift in style for Claude Chabrol, from the provincial study of intense relationships to the violent political thriller."Nada" named after a gang of Spanish anarchists, is a small, confused band of French terrorists.They kidnap the American ambassador after one of his regular visits to an exclusive brothel.The gang starts to quarrel amongst themselves as to the diplomat's fate, while the police purge suspects in their attempts to destroy the Nada faction.As the violence escalates on both sides, the States and the terrorists are forced to use one another's methods in an increasingly desperate and relentless conflict ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A good political French new wave kidnapping drama...
NADA, a French terrorist group, kidnaps the American Ambassador to France as they want to put some pressure on the French conservative government. The Interior branch of French government is offended by the actions of the NADA fraction and want to find a quick solution to the problem. The solution leads to increasingly brutal conduct by the French police, which forces the NADA fraction toward more radical action. Chabrol directs a good political French new wave film that bluntly depicts how violence breeds violence as the audience is allowed to follow two sides of the story.

excellent plot, thin characters
Most of Claude Chabrols films are about the bored bourgeoisie and their marital infidelities which inevitably lead to murder. Plot wise the stories sound like standard murder mysteries but Chabrol's main weapon "irony" is used in such an interesting way that he often seems to be challenging our conventional notions of just why people are so fond of cheating and just why it inevitably leads to murder. Nada is Chabrols only flirtation with the political thriller genre and Chabrols irony again is what singles this film out from any other in the genre.

One of the members of the Nada gang is a university lecturer who is not so much a revoltionary as a social discontent, who is disgusted with the bourgeoisie conventions of his life. He is the most unlikely member of the Nada gang and the one Chabrol focuses on more than any other. The other members are your usual revolutionary suspects. Although one revolutionary immediately strikes you for his resemblance to Clint Eatwood, he even wears a poncho and cowboy hat. Chabrol is perhaps less interested in the political positions of his revolutionaries than he is with the reasons behind their social discontent. In his other films his discontents are married and infidelity and murder seem the only means of escape from the stifling nature of bourgoisie life so in this respect the film is a variation on Chabrols favorite themes but in Nada instead of turning to marital infidelities the bored bourgeoisie turn to revolution. In fact there are bourgeoisie on both sides of the law. The police chief and the politicians on the right are seen to be as bored with bourgeoisie life as are their counterparts on the left so it is another instance of Chabrols famous irony to have the ultimate battle be not so much about revolutionary politics but about bored bourgeoisie squaring off against each other to alleviate the tedium of their respective existences. The revolutionaries hatch a kidnapping plan in which they heist the America ambassador out of that most bourgeoisie of institutions, the brothel. From there things quickly escalate until the right and left square off like two armies at a farmhouse. Both sides seem to be engaged in a huge bit of folly and as the bodies pile up its obvious whatever intentions either side had have been lost sight of when the guns start blazing. Miraculously the lecturer and the Eastwood character escape but soon one is captured and used as bait to get to the other. Chabrol drives the political thriller to its conclusion with one last irony and thats that the Eastwood character unlike everyone else in the film actually does believe in something but its too little too late. In the end we are left with a political thriller and vision of humanity that will please the bored bourgeoisie anarchist in everyone.

All of Chabrols films have the air of formal exercises and everything that happens has an air of inevtability to it that makes Chabrol seem to be a fatalist. What makes his best pictures memorable are his characters which seem to realize their lives are determined by forces they do not control and this realization as much as anything else leads them to act with abandon. Nada comes close, the ideas are there in the plot, but no one character really captures our interest and so the film is curiously lacking in that psychological dimension that makes Chabrols best films so compelling.

Excellent thriller, from the French master
Claude Chabrol's 1974 Nada is in some ways a change of pace for the master of the corrupt bourgeois, yet in others is true to form. While the focus of the plot is the kidnapping of the American ambassador to France by disaffected French leftists and anarchists, the emphasis on their personal psychologies is as pointed as ever from the perspective of a film director who has made a career of juxtaposing the haves and the have-nots, those who sit back and bask in their wealth and those who have to resort to other means to attain it--usually criminal. Or those who just plain resent the wealthy and do something about it, even if the resenters don't become wealthy themselves.

The action here is very well paced and the acting is exactly what it should be from a great cast including Fabio Testi and Mariangela Melato (from the great Lina Wertmuller film Swept Away). Rather than lampooning the police as he did in Innocents with Dirty Hands, Chabrol here presents them as brutal workers who do everything possible to get information. The kidnappers are all disaffected, but in different ways. One is a dedicated Marxist. One is a leftist-anarchist. One is essentially a professional radical mercenary. One is a complete anarchist prone to getting drunk.

Chabrol delights in contrasting those who view activity as a luxury and those who know it is a duty--and the performance of that duty by the latter is often done with enough intensity to become violent, quite easily in fact. The Justice Minister, for example, sleeps in opulent surroundings and has a wife looking suspiciously like Marie Antoinette. Likewise the ambassador dallies in a brothel with a whore wearing flimsy garments. Meanwhile the cops and the kidnappers do the dirty work that forms the meat of the story.

An interesting film by the great Claude Chabrol who does have his occasional slipups (Innocents with Dirty Hands, The Swindle, e.g.) but who in this film proves he can tell a tale that veers from his typical fare--and do it quite well indeed. Definitely recommended. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Chabrol's brilliant attempt at "Madame Bovary"
'The Unfaithful Wife' is really about a faithful husband, who will kill to save his marriage. This kind of fidelity is a chilling exercise of power - the film's many point-of-view shots are mostly his - with adultery a rebellion, a bid for freedom that must be crushed. It's not enough that Charles uncovers his wife's lover, he must sit on the bed they make love on, drink the same drink...

Chabrol's most perfect film, where character inertia is expressed in blatant artifice, both in the home and in 'nature'; where a materialist filming of materialists conceals an austere spirituality, embodied in those Fateful policemen. Like his namesake Bovary, Charles sleeps when his exquisitely beautiful wife offers herself to him. He deserves what he gets.

The basis for "Unfaithful" is of passing interest at best
Interest in Claude Chabrol's 1969 film "La Femme infidèle" is of course spurred by Adrian Lyne's 2002 remake "Unfaithful," which featured an Oscar nominated performance by Diane Lane. However, from that perspective watching the original is hardly worth the effort. The inevitable result of any comparison is going to be impressed with both the style of Lyne's version and the substantive additions to the new version in terms of the plot. In other words, I would expect few people to favor the original over the remake.

The basic story is, of course, the same: husband Charles Desvallées (Michel Bouquet) becomes suspicious that his wife Hélène (Stéphane Audran) is having an affair. Charles hires a private detective who comes up with the name of Victor Pegala (Maurice Ronet) and then goes off to contront his wife's lover. The key difference between the two versions is that the original French film is much more about the husband and his reaction to the affair rather than about the wife and the affair itself. Actually, "The Faithful Husband" is a more accurate description of the story being told in this version.

I want to make something out of the fact that the character's name is Charles, the name of the cuckolded husband in "Madame Bovary," but that would be pushing. But this Charles is neither blind to his wife's unfaithfulness nor incapable of taking action. Ironically, his wife treats her lover with more coldness than she shows her husband. If it were not for the fact we see her in the bed of another man there would be no obvious reason to suspect her of infidelity. Her motivation is never really explained, but when she turns to her husband in bed at night and he decides just to go to sleep, the obvious implication is that it is Charles who has driven Hélène into the arms of Victor.

Outside of satisfying your curiosity as to what Lyne was working from when he created "Unfaithful," there is not much else here. The DVD has the French trailer (without subtitles), so this is pretty bareboned. Consequently I think you will find "La Femme infidèle" to be of passing interest at best. ... Read more

Description

Phillipe and Esther live an idyllic life with their daughter, Elise. In an attempt to preserve this bliss, Phillipe decides that he and Esther should each have affairs, being sure to tell each other openly about them. The plan backfires with tragic results as Phillipe becomes plagued with jealousy. Japanese w/ English Subtitles. ... Read more

Description

A hit and run driver kills a child.The child's father Charles wants to do everything to revenge the death of his son.After a long investigation, a chance meeting puts him in the presence of Paul, a despicable garage owner, who terrorizes his family.Paul is the murderer of Charles' son.Charles waits for the right moment to face Paul and to bring him to justice. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

We Will Serve No Mystery Before its Time
Orson Welles plays the grey bearded and portly God-like father, Anthony Perkins the rebellious son, and Marlene Jobert the young & sexy stepmother in this metaphysical Oedipal mystery which is based(only very loosely)on an Ellery Queen novel. Chabrol only uses the Ellery Queen novel as a kind of foundation, what he actually builds from that foundation has little to do with Ellery Queen. Be warned: If you're looking for a straightforward mystery this is not for you. However if you are looking for a film that plays with the mystery genre in creative and unexpected ways then this may just well be your kind of cinema as Claude Chabrol's is a subversive cinema and in his early to mid 1970's films he boldly re-invents each genre of filmmaking to accomodate his own ironic world view. Chabrol always has fun with the bourgeoisie in his films but here he expands that ridicule to include every kind of authority figure(and every kind of truth). Each authority figure tries to exert their influence, and force upon others their way of perceiving things but the truth slips through their grasp. In this film made in the very riotous year of our lord 1971, authority figures have lost their grip on "truth" and "reality". Claude Chabrol wrote a book about Hitchcock and is often compared to that master filmmaker but his films only resemble Hitchcock films on the surface, below the surface the two have nothing in common. Chabrol casting Anthony Perkins as the central conscience around which this mystery revolves is just another bit of Chabrol irony. In Hitchcocks Psycho Perkins was the psycho son of a dead mother. Here he is the confused son of a domineering father. As filmgoers who have all seen Psycho we expect Perkins to once again play the psycho but in Chabrols world expectations must be cast aside. This story takes some getting used to as there are so many things going on but if you stick with it you will be rewarded with a singular kind of film experience. Chabrol gives you lots of irony(lots of cinema in-jokes, including references to Welles films) but his ultimate vision is a unique & compelling one which will especially appeal to those restless minds out there who will find a real compatriot in Chabrol. His filmic re-formulations are highly literate & sophisticated and yet unlike Godard his interest in form never becomes merely formal exercises. He is one of those rare experimenters whose films are fun. I would recommend many of Chabrols films including La Rupture which was made in the same year as this one but also: La Femme Infidele, Le Boucher, Que la Bete Muere, Wedding in Blood, La Ceremonie.

Fantastic Cinema Work
Not for nothing Claude Chabrol is one of the best film makers. He goes unraveling the movie slowly to an impossible-to-grasp ending. An absolut black thriller, full of excitement. The cast is also brilliant, from the troubled Charles Van Horn (played by Anthony Perkins in a superb role), to his doctor and friend Paul (Michel Piccoli), to his father (Orson Welles, always good! ). Don't miss this movie! ... Read more

Description

When U.S. radar installations in Greece are jammed and an undercover NATO security man is killed, suspicion falls on his widow, who sets out to find the real culprits and prove herself innocent. An exciting spy thriller set in exotic locations in Greece. ... Read more