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Antonio Passalia
Jean Yanne
Stephane Audran
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Genre
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Thriller
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Media
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DVD
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Language | French | ||
Subtitles | English | ||
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Reviewer
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Gareth
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Description
Very little happens, and all of the sordid criminal events take place off screen in Claude Chabrol's exquisitely detached and austerely abstract murder mystery set in the Perigord region of central France. At the centre of the intrigue is Chabrol's frequent collaborator and wife, Stephane Audran, who plays Mademoiselle Helene, the beautiful and brash, yet shy and retiring local school teacher. As the film begins, Mlle. Helene is at a festive local wedding enjoying the company of brusque and earnest Popaul, the local butcher. Popaul speaks roughly of his bloody experiences as a soldier, yet shows a sentimental gentility towards Mlle. Helene. As the two engage in a sweet, if unlikely, courtship, the town falls victim to a serial killer who is brutally murdering local women--including the bride at the wedding. The atmosphere of the film becomes rife with subtle yet chilling suspense as Mlle. Helene simultaneously draws closer to Popaul, just as she is beginning to suspect him as the murderer. As the tension builds, so does the intricate interplay between the conflicting yet similar characters of Mlle. Helene and Popaul, resulting in a final explosion of violent acts.
Review
This was the first foreign language film I remember watching and I was held spellbound by it. It's so subtle and the sense of menace and atmosphere is palpable. Watching it again recently I loved the almost Hitchcockian attention to the mood, but where Hitchcock focused on the more technical aspects of directing Chabrol, to me, focuses on the human psychology. This was what enthralled me as a teenager.
In a bulk standard Hollywood murder film there would have the suspense of the chase; the murder and intrigue, but when the thrill of the chase is over so is the film... When Le Boucher ends the viewer is left with a lot of questions with some uneasy answers and s/he has to provide his / her own interpretation on what has just happened. I never realised films could do that - most films I'd seen had big concepts and only one resolution. This films looks at how the murders affect the town itself, and in particular the local teacher, is far more subtle and, therefore, rewarding when the story is resolved (and boy, is it resolved!).
This is a hauntingly brilliant film, one that certainly deserves to be re-watched!
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