Claude Chabrol

[kinjitsu]

Claude Chabrol (1930-2010)



Murder always heightens the interest in a film.
Even a banal situation takes on importance
when there's a murder involved.


Filmography

Le beau serge / Bitter Reunion (1958)

Les Cousins / The Cousins (1959)

A double tour / Leda (1959) Kino (R1)

Les Bonnes femmes / The Good Girls (1960) Kino (R1)

Les Godelureaux / Wise Guys (1961)

L'Avarice - segment from Les Sept peches capitaux / The Seven Deadly Sins (1962)

L'Oeil du malin / The Third Lover (1962)

Landru / Bluebeard (1963)

Ophelia (1963)

L'Homme qui vendit la Tour Eiffel - segment from Les plus belles escroqueries du monde / The Beautiful Swindlers (1964)

Le Tigre aime a la chair fraiche / Code Name: Tiger (1964)

La Muette- segment from Paris vu par... / Six in Paris (1965)

Marie-Chantal contre le docteur Kha / Blue Panther (1965)

Le Tigre se parfume la dynamite / Our Agent Tiger (1965)

La Ligne de d'marcation / Line of Demarcation (1966)

Le Scandale / The Champagne Murders (1967)

La Route de Corinthe / Who's Got the Black Box? (1967) Pathfinder (R1) Arrow (R2)

Les Biches / Girlfriends (1968) Arrow (R2) Pathfinder (R1)

La Femme infidile / The Unfaithful Wife (1969) Arrow (R2) Pathfinder (R1)

Que la bete meure / This Man Must Die! (1969) Arrow (R2) Pathfinder (R1)

Le Boucher / The Butcher (1970) Arrow (R2) Pathfinder (R1)

La Rupture / The Break Up (1970) Pathfinder (R1) Arrow (R2)

Juste avant la nuit / Just Before Nightfall (1971) Arrow (R2)

La Decade prodigieuse / Ten Days Wonder (1971) Pathfinder (R1)

Docteur Popaul (1972) VZ-Handelsgesellschaft (R0)

Les Noces rouges / Wedding in Blood (1973) Arrow (R2)

Nada / The Nada Gang (1974) Arrow (R2) Pathfinder (R1)

Le banc de la desolation - segment from Nouvelles de Henry James (TV 1974)

Nul n'est parfait, Monsieur Bebe, Les gens de l'ete, & Une invitation a la chasse - segments from Histoires insolites (TV 1974)

Une Partie de plaisir / Pleasure Party (1975) Arrow (R2) Pathfinder (R1)

Les Innocents aux mains sales (1975) Pathfinder (R1) Arrow (R2)

De Grey - segment from Nouvelles de Henry James (TV 1976)

Les Magiciens / Death Rite (1976)

Folies bourgeoises / The Twist (1976)

Alice ou la Derniere Fugue / Alice or the Last Escapade (1977)

Les Liens de sang / Blood Relatives (1978) ITV (R2)

Monsieur Saint-Saens - segment from Il etait un musicien (TV 1978)

2 + 2 = 4 - segment from Madame le juge (TV 1978)

Violette Noziere (1978) Koch Lorber (R1)

Monsieur Liszt & Monsieur Prokofiev - segments from Il etait un musicien (TV 1979)

L'Echafaud magique & Le Tramway fantome - segments from Fantomas (TV 1980)

La boucle d'oreille - segment from Histoires insolites (TV 1979)

Le Cheval d'orgueil / The Proud Ones (1980)

Le Systeme du docteur Goudron et du professeur Plume (TV - 1981)

La Danse de mort (TV - 1982)

M. le maudit (TV - 1982)

Les Affinites electives (TV - 1982)

Les Fantomes du chapelier (TV - 1982)

Le Sang des autres / Blood of Others (1984) Atlantic (R2)

Poulet au vinaigre / Cop au vin (1985) Kino (R1) Arrow (R2) mk2 (R2)

Inspecteur Lavardin (1986) Kino (R1)

Masques (1987) HVE (R1)

Le Cri du hibou (1988) All Day Entertainment (R1)

Une Affaire de femmes (1989) HVE (R2)

Jours tranquilles e Clichy (1990)

Docteur M/ Club Extinction (1990) Alive AG (R2)

Madame Bovary (1991) MGM (R1) Arrow (R2)

Betty (1992) Kino (R1) mk2 (R2)

L'Oeil de Vichy / The Eye of Vichy (1993) Remstar (R1)

L'Enfer / Hell (1994) Kino (R1) Second Sight (R2) mk2 (R2)

La Ceeemonie (1995) HVE (R1) Metronome (R2)

Cyprien Katsaris (TV - 1996)

Rien ne va plus / The Swindle (1997) Metronome (R2) New Yorker (R1)

Au coeur du mensonge / the Color of Lies (1999) Kino (R1)

Merci pour le chocolat / Nightcap (2000) Remstar (R1) Artificial Eye (R2)

Les Redoutables - unknown episodes (TV 2001)

La Fleur du mal / The Flower of Evil (2002) Lions Gate (R1) Arrow (R2) mk2 (R2)

La Demoiselle d'honneur / The Bridesmaid (2004) First Run (R1) CineFile (R2)

L'Ivresse du pouvoir / Comedy of Power (2006) Koch Lorber (R1)

La parure segment from Chez Maupassant (TV 2007)

La Fille coupee en deux / The Girl Cut in Two (2007)

Le petit fût - segment from Chez Maupassant (TV 2008)

Bellamy / Inspector Bellamy (2009)

Le petit vieux des Batignolles segment from Au siècle de Maupassant: Contes et nouvelles du XIXème siècle (TV 2009)

Le fauteuil hanté segment from Au siècle de Maupassant: Contes et nouvelles du XIXème siècle (TV 2010)


Forum Discussions

Les Bonnes Femmes

A Girl Cut in Two

Les Sept Peches Capitaux


Internet Resourcess

Claude Chabrol - Richard Armstrong (Senses of Cinema, 2002)

Claude Chabrol - Gavin Millar (Cinema: A Critical Dictionary, 1980)

The Claude Chabrol Project

Claude Chabrol: Three Films - Acquarello (Strictly Film School, 2000)

Claude Chabrol's Le Beau Serge - Dan Harper (Senses of Cinema, 2001)

La Ceremonie - Royal S. Brown (Cineaste, 1996)

La Ceremonie: Both Sides Now - Jonathan Rosenbaum (Chicago Reader, 1997)

The Darwinian World of Claude Chabrol - Ian Cameron (Movie, 1963)

Interview with Claude Chabrol - Pierre Berthomieu (Positif, 1995)

Interview with Claude Chabrol - Jean-André Fieschi & Mark Shivas (Movie, 1963)

Merci pour le chocolat - Keith Reader (Sight & Sound, 2000)

Slow Burn Suspense: The Films of Claude Chabrol - Tony McKibbin (Images Journal, 2000)

Surfer on the new wave - Peter Lennon (The Guardian, 2001)


Publications

Claude Chabrol: Autoportrait - Guy Austin (Manchester University Press, 1999)

Claude Chabrol - Robin Wood & Michael Walker (Studio Vista, 1970)
_____________________________________________________
Compiled by domino harvey, Scharphedin & kinjitsu

[domino harvey]

I just got my R2 Arrow Chabrol Vol 2 set from that amazing Amazon.co.uk deal in the mail yesterday, it's my hope that others receiving the set check back into this thread with their thoughts on the films-- it really is a nice sampler of Chabrol films. You get a bad commercial film, the type of which nearly sank his career in the mid-60s (the Road to Corinth), you get an entry from the Helene cycle (La Rupture), you get one of the Lardvin movies (Cop au vin), you get one of his best international co-productions from the 70s (Innocents...) and you get one of his best recent films (La Fleur du mal)-- a great way to start with a broad overview of this master's long career.

I rewatched La Fleur du mal this evening, it looks a little better than I remember the R1 looking, and they ported over the mk2 extras, which was nice. The second time around I loved it even more, and I had never considered it as part of a trilogy with La Ceremonie and Merci pour le chocolat until the brief mk2 program suggested so-- I'm not sure I buy it but it's an interesting approach

[GringoTex]

I also ordered the Arrow Vol2 set (thanks, domino, for announcing that deal). From what I can gather, the latest batch of "those crazy french film critics" have vaulted Chabrol to the top of the New Wave heap (I suppose it was his turn), so I'm very interested in checking these out.

[colinr0380]

A piece on Le Boucher from the Moon In The Gutter blog.

[Kinsayder]

Some Chabrols released in unsubbed French editions only: Le Beau Serge, Les Cousins, Les Godelureaux, L'Oeil du malin, Landru, Le Tigre aime la chair fraiche, Paris vu par..., Marie-Chantal contre le docteur Kha, Le Tigre se parfume à la dynamite, La Ligne de démarcation, Alice ou la Dernière Fugue, Madame le juge, Le Cheval d'orgueil, Les Fantomes du chapelier, Jours tranquilles à Clichy, Coup de vice (segment from Les Redoutables).

Also, M le Maudit is on Criterion's edition of Lang's M.

[domino harvey]

and Paris vu par... is available with subs in R4 from Madman-- awful disc though, combed to the hilt.

It kills me that Les Godelureaux is out there without subs. For those of you who have access to such internet things, has anyone fan-subbed it?

[Arn777]

Just to add to Chabrol's filmo:
Chez Maupassant (2008) - Le petit fût was broadcast on French TV last week

[Forrest Taft]

I just got my R2 Arrow Chabrol Vol 2 set from that amazing Amazon.co.uk deal in the mail yesterday, it's my hope that others receiving the set check back into this thread with their thoughts on the films

I picked up this set having never seen a Chabrol film. What a pleasant surprise. The Road to Corinth was certainly the weakest of the lot. After the strange, hysterical opening it turned into a so-so cold war thriller. It was fairly entertaining, but nothing I had not seen before. I loved all the other films in the set. Cop au Vins detective Lavardin must be the most original detective I´ve ever seen in a film, and I do hope the Lavardin TV-series gets an Eclipse release. The Breach was my favourite though. The opening sequence is probably the most powerful I´ve ever seen in a film. Very unexpected and very shocking. Stéphane Audrat and Jean-Pierre Cassel were both excellent in this. Arrows first volume of Chabrol films is already on its way. Are the films as good as the ones in this volume?

[domino harvey]

Glad to here Chabrol's hit you hard! He's definitely been my pet project on this board for as long as I've been posting here and it's been great seeing all the discussion of his films recently!

Are the films as good as the ones in this volume?

They're arguably better, at least as far as consistency goes.

Les Biches saved Chabrol's career, and is definitely the beginning of his most popular streak of films-- though I must admit I find his late-period films the most interesting.

La Femme Infidele, Les Noches Rouges, Juste Avant Le Nuit These films perfectly encapsulate what a Chabrol film promises to deliver. The more of his films you see, the easier it is to fall into his low-key rhythm.

Le Boucher Considered by a lot of people to be his best film. I disagree but it's certainly an interesting one. Que le Bete Meure explores the emptiness of revenge, kind of a lesser film in my eyes but it has a great momentum. It's fun to watch Chabrol run through a lot of the same cast of starring and supporting actors in different roles in these films.

Nada Very very anomalous film for Chabrol but easily his most impressive in terms of camera work and composition. An exceedingly violent film that finds Chabrol taking a rare dip into political satire. One of my personal favorites.

Madame Bovary A pretty straight adaptation for Chabrol, but there's some moments that shake it up, like the Under Capricorn homage or the black tongue!

[Dylan]

Has anybody here seen Les Godelureaux? It sounds interesting.

[domino harvey]

Has anybody here seen Les Godelureaux? It sounds interesting.

No, but I wish! I had assumed the print was lost but I guess it was released in France on DVD sans subs. I'm naively hopeful that it'll show up in an Eclipse set (ha, fat chance since Criterion passed on the hVe titles and are sitting on Chabrol's first two films) or more likely, from Kino. There are a lot of Chabrol films MIA from any sort of release.

[Kinsayder]

The French edition is a little soft, but the print is in good shape. There's a fair amount of broad comedy in this film. Like Les Cousins, this is Chabrol joking around the edges of social criticism, rather than sticking the knife in (in fact, a murder or two might have perked the film up a bit). On the plus side, you do get to enjoy Stéphane Audran shaking her tatas in an outrageous dance number.

[bear]

I've enjoyed the sets from Arrow Films too, and would agree vol 1 is the stronger collection, while the other covers a broader range (both in style and quality...).

Hungry for more, I mailed Arrow Films about Chabrol, sadly

Unfortunately, no more plans at present but we'll let you know if anything changes

[Tom Hagen]

Where is a good place to start with Chabrol? I just finished reading Richard Neupert's History of the French New Wave Cinema, which served to remind me once again that Chabrol is a significant oversight in my film education (due, at least partly, to the lack of his widespread prominence/availability in R1 DVD). What should I look for (and where can I find it)?

[domino harvey]

Where is a good place to start with Chabrol? I just finished reading Richard Neupert's History of the French New Wave Cinema, which served to remind me once again that Chabrol is a significant oversight in my film education (due, at least partly, to the lack of his widespread prominence/availability in R1 DVD). What should I look for (and where can I find it)?

First, why not start with his greatest film?
La Ceremonie

Then sample some films from his different periods (presented in chronological order):
1: Les Bonnes Femmes*
2: Les Biches
3: Innocents With Dirty Hands
4: L'enfer
5: the Bridesmaid

Everything above available in R1 (so NetFlix, any online retailer)


*Neupert focuses on Chabrol's early-early career, like stopping before he did the spy films in the mid-60s if memory serves. The best film from this period is Les Cousins, which isn't on DVD with subs anywhere. I saw it via a VHS copy from ILL, so if you belong to a university, try that. Criterion owns the rights, but they're not big Chabrol fans so who knows when we'll see it.

[Tom Hagen]

Thanks for the suggestions; I will take them under advisement and update my Netflix queue accordingly.

I will check my local city and university libraries for Les Cousins -- the city library does have a significant VHS collection. I have been trying to absorb as much of the vague as possible and it really is time to finally work through Chabrol.

The Neupert book was somewhat frustrating in a similar regard as to Godard. I picked it up hoping to get some insight on some of the mid '60s stuff, but it focused exclusively on his first features much to my chagrin. (He also focused on Truffaut's first three features, but that seemed much less problematic to me.)

[domino harvey]

I just thumbed through Neupert's chapter on Chabrol (it's been three or four years since I've read the book), if you're interested in Le Beau Serge, it's also on VHS. It and Les Cousins are sister films and both tell city mouse/country mouse stories and flip the actors for either movie, but I'm not a huge fan of Serge to be honest. Of the other first period Chabrols mentioned, only A double tour and the aforementioned Les Bonnes Femmes have been released.

[justeleblanc]

Someone told me to start with Le Ceremonie as well, and that worked out for me. Though I really want to go back and watch it again now that I've seen the rest of his stuff.

I'd try to watch the rest in order, but keep an eye out for these:

L'Enfer
Les Bonnes Femmes
The Unfaithful Wife
Le Rupture
Flowers of Evil
Before Nightfall

[mattkc]

No one's mentioned one of my favorites, Ten Days Wonder, a very odd little film. Unfortunately, what's supposed to be one of his best films, Le Scandale, doesn't seem to be on DVD.

[domino harvey]

No one's mentioned one of my favorites, Ten Days Wonder, a very odd little film.

It is odd, but I would definitely rank it among his least-successful mid-period films. A much better English-language Chabrol film that comes around a little later in this period is Blood Relatives. Though it's a bit of a mess and the subject matter is incredibly bleak, it still has much of the dark humor that I find lacking in Ten Days. The great, totally random Donald Pleasance sequence is one of the best things Chabrol's ever done-- it's surely among the most perverse scenes in any film!

[mattkc]

I agree Decade Prodigieuse is completely overwhelmed by Welles, and all that baggage. It's dreadful, basically.

I remember nothing dreadful about it, except maybe the script (I probably didn't pay much attention to it). Visually though I found it a very interesting film, and the opening I remember as being rather stunning.

[Kinsayder]

Just to add to Chabrol's filmo:
Chez Maupassant (2008) - Le petit fût
was broadcasted on French TV last week

...and is now on DVD (no subs).

[sevenarts]

I've only recently started to watch some classic Chabrol thanks to the Arrow sets -- I'd previously only seen the uneven L'enfer (redeemed by a wonderfully perky Emanuelle Beart performance) and the great peeping tom thriller Cry of the Owl. Both of those were pretty interesting, but neither suggested to me just how wonderfully strange and enthralling Chabrol could be. I recently watched La rupture (that ending!!!!) and Innocents With Dirty Hands. I've definitely been overlooking him for too long. These are intense, deeply weird films that continually unsettle comfortable points of view and challenge expectations.

[domino harvey]

TCM had a Donald Pleasence marathon (what?) last weekend and Osbourne introduced some Charles Bronson movie by mocking the fact that Pleasence had also appeared in a movie called Blood Relatives. What a pompous ass, like there's any chance he'd even seen the film he was belittling, he clearly just thought the title sounded bad.

[Highway 61]

Osbourne is so reliably terrible. Who is he anyway? What are his credentials? I sometimes wonder if TCM hired him based on the sole possibility that channel surfers might confuse him for Roger Ebert.