Claude Chabrol

Synopsis:
During a wedding celebration in a small rural French village, schoolteacher Helene (Stephane Audran) strikes up a conversation with the local butcher Popaul (Jean Yanne), who has just returned from a fifteen year spell in the army. As their unlikely friendship blossoms into a tentative courtship, the town falls victim to a serial killer preying on the women of the village. Just as Helene finds herself falling for Popaul, she simultaneously begins to suspect him of being the murderer. As the tension builds, the truth is revealed, leading to an explosive climax.Read More »

A hard-working young man meets and falls in love with his sister’s bridesmaid. He soon finds out how disturbed she really is.

Quote:
the bridesmaid (First Run) Going to a new Chabrol film these days is like sitting down with an old friend who will tell you another one of his stories. Chabrol has been making films since 1958: the latest of his more than fifty features is The Bridesmaid, and another one has already been finished. He has co-written or co-adapted many of his pictures, and he has also played bit parts in some of them (as well as in the films of others). I have seen a lot of Chabrol’s films, and many others must share my sense that much of my filmgoing life is threaded throughout with his work. He has always been a director who felt that moving ahead was at least as important as polishing a single work.Read More »

Ginette, Rita, Jacqueline and Jane try to find fulfillment and love in their lives. Rita has a fiance whose family is obsessed with social distinction; Jane has a boy-friend in the army, but does not hesitate to enjoy herself with chance encounters; Ginette has a mysterious passion that keeps her away from her colleagues at nights. Jacqueline is lonely; but who is that mysterious bike-rider who is constantly following her?Read More »

Of the hallowed group of Cahiers du cinéma critics turned filmmakers who transformed French film history, Claude Chabrol was the first to direct his own feature. His absorbing landmark debut, Le beau Serge, follows a successful yet sickly young man (Jean-Claude Brialy) who returns home to the small village where he grew up. There, he finds himself at odds with his former close friend (Gérard Blain)—now unhappily married and a wretched alcoholic—and the provincial life he represents. The remarkable and stark Le beau Serge heralded the arrival of a cinematic titan who would go on to craft provocative, entertaining films for five more decades. (-Criterion)Read More »

SYNOPSIS:
Expatriate Henry Miller indulges in a variety of sexual escapades while struggling to establish himself as a serious writer in Paris.
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By Roger Ebert / January 16, 1969

Claude Chabrol’s “Les Biches” depends almost entirely on style, and as style it succeeds. He is not so much interested in his story as in how to tell it. He favors muted colors, mostly pastels, and many of his scenes are shot in the light of late afternoon.

His characters fit these colors and moods; they seem in a trance sometimes, moving slowly, speaking absently. And his camera movement is meticulously planned. We notice scenes where the camera and the actors move together in a sort of minuet. Three or four shots, using steps we don’t see or mirrors we don’t expect, have the grace of dance.

Chabrol is often considered the father of the French New Wave. He is known over here for “Les Cousins” (1959), “Les Bonnes Femmes” (1960) and last year’s “The Champagne Murders.” Unlike his colleagues in the New Wave (Godard, Truffaut, Resnais) he has steered away from politics and into a very smooth, almost ethereal directing style. “Les Biches,” a success at the 1968 New York Film Festival, ranks with his best work.Read More »

Quote:
This miniseries based on the Fantomas novels of Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre, takes the Fantomas character back to his sinister roots. After the comedic Andre Hunabelle films of the 60s, filmmakers Claude Charbrol and Juan Bunuel went back to the original books for their inspiration. The results are magnificent. The series is a reinvestigation of the pulp roots of the character, while infusing the surreal, dreamlike qualities that the original texts inspired in the works of Juan Gris, Rene Magritte and Luis Bunuel (who is referenced, along with Apollinaire, in the first episode.)Read More »

synopsis
In this murder mystery, a homicidal maniac goes on a killing spree beginning with his wife. He then kills six of her friends and is preparing to murder a seventh when the intended victim dies naturally. As a substitute, he murders his favorite hooker, leading the police right to him.Read More »