Often beginning his films with little inflection and just-the-facts directness, gourmet gagster Claude Chabrol could come off as the Jack Webb of the French Nouvelle Vague. Often as not, this tactic was a fake-out meant to leave you off-balance, uncertain where you were being led till you’d digested the first act. By then, you’d know if you were watching good or bad Chabrol. This one of the good ones. Stéphane Audran (then married to Chabrol) is the beautiful, blank wife of well-heeled businessman Michel Bouquet; working in Paris/living with their 10-yr-old boy in Versailles. Right now, Bouquet’s visiting mother is about to head home, but not without first telling her son to lose a little weight. Seems rude, but Maman has picked up on the ‘off’ vibe between the couple. And a stealth phone call by Audran cues us in to some sort of relationship troubles before the pair share a joyless night out with friends, highlighting a couple at cross purposes. Soon after, Bouquet hires a P.I.; Audran disappears every other afternoon; an affair of no great passion is confirmed; and civilized confrontation turns on a dix sous piece into violence. The mix of family comfort and discomfort; smiling lies & unpleasant truths; married & unmarried beds of iniquity. Like the jigsaw puzzle the young son is trying to complete, there’s a piece missing in this relationship. Then two detectives knock at the door after dinner. Death and domesticity. Chabrol couldn’t always be bothered, but when he could, he knew how to tighten the screws.
CONTEST: Along with fellow Nouvelle Vague-er Éric Rohmer, Chabrol co-authored one of the first books to make the case for Alfred Hitchcock as more than ‘mere’ entertainer. (As if that alone weren’t enough! Ah, the French. See: HITCHCOCK; THE FIRST FORTY-FOUR FILMS.) So, no surprise to see Chabrol lift a major scene from a major Hitchcock film here. Use the Comment Box to name the film and the scene to win a MAKSQUIBS Write-Up of a streamable film of your choice.
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