Film: The Essential Claude Chabrol Vol.2
Release date: 7th June 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 325 mins
Director: Claude Chabrol
Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Jean Poiret, Marie Trintignant
Genre: Drama/Crime/Thriller
Studio: Artificial Eye
Format: DVD
Country: France
An icon of French cinema and pioneer of nouvelle vogue, writer/director Claude Chabrol's work has to a large extent defined a niche of the French cinematic vanguard, spreading the seeds of vision from a once peripheral garden to what many would now regard as mainstream. Often regarded as the French response to Alfred Hitchcock, the second volume of The Essential Claude Chabrol offers three distinct films from the director’s body of work representing two decades in Chabrol's now half century career as a filmmaker. With a wide variety of nuanced tales of intrigue and wealth of cinematic style, the dark comedy and sultry drama of this collection serves an expansive feast certain to appeal to all refined cinematic tastes.
Masks (Masques)
First released in 1987, Masks serves as a portrait of deception within duplicity. Given a distinctly comedic tone, aspiring biographer Roland Wolf (Robin Renucci) is invited to popular game-show host Christian Legagneur's (Phillip Noiret) estate for a series of exclusive interviews. Much to Wolf's chagrin, Lagagneur is constantly being called away for reasons more and more suspect, and further and further delaying the promised interviews. Unbeknownst to Lagagneur, Wolf has an ulterior agenda of his own for which he has brought a gun and an interest in the disappearance of recent guest to the television personality's home. To this is added the presence of Lagagneur’s godchild, Catherine, whom he shadows and obviously has more to reveal than she is at liberty to divulge under her custodian’s watchful gaze.
The strength of Masks lies greatly in the metered quality with which the events unfurl - an earmark of Chabrol’s work. At its onset, the circumstances of the film seem benign, and, to some extent, rather blasé. Set as it is on the estate of an obviously wealthy man, the aesthetic seems far more Merchant Ivory than film noir. To the credit of its cast, however, though not revealed explicitly, there is a nearly subliminal sense of unease communicated through unprovoked glances and awkward chuckles. This escalates to a point wherein an audience has unwittingly strayed so far from the comfort of first introduction, though paced such that they don’t register how far they have drifted.
The Colour Of Lies (Au Coeur Du Mensonge)
From 1999, the most recent film in the collection's three-disc set depicts the consequence of implication and speculation in a murder investigation set against the paranoid tensions of a rural French village.
When the body of a young girl is discovered in the town where all are familiars and local gossip is exchanged at the Bar de Amis, leery eyes fall upon René (Jacques Gamblin), the girl's art teacher and last person to have seen her before her fateful death. Though there is no evidence of René's guilt, the local inspector’s constant interrogations and the court of public opinion quickly make the once beloved teacher a prisoner among former friends.
In a similar fashion to the metronomic timing of Masks, The Colour of Lies offers a far more overt depiction of obscured truth revealed in meticulous degrees. René’s apparent guilt seems initially to a viewer an obvious case of misdirection; the more apparent his guilt the less likely he is the murderer. However, as the film progresses, there is neither any suggestion of his innocence, which stirs doubt in a viewer who is left with no clear sense of the character with whom they should sympathize. The presence of René’s wife, Vivianne (Sandrine Bonnaire), and her unerring devotion to her husband likewise leaves more doubt than assurance and delivers one of the films most compelling performances.
A Story Of Women (Une Affaire De Femmes)
1988’s A Story Of Women features the internationally acclaimed Isabelle Huppert in an adaptation of the Francis Szpiner novel of the same name.
As Marie-Louise Giraud, the last victim of Madame Guillotine, executed in 1943 for having performed twenty-seven documented abortions during the Nazi occupation of France Huppert delivers a performance that garnered significant attention and several awards.
Though certainly not to deny credit to its director, A Story of Women owes a great deal of its mystique to the mesmerising performance of Huppert, whom the audience watches develop from unassuming domestic to radical abortionist over the course of the film. It is a fascinating transformation to observe in both a cinematic and historical context. Huppert, it seems, found a remarkable approach to Giraud that allowed her to travel a considerable arc without its seeming in the least contrived. The conviction she discovers throughout the film is one that occurs as a matter of course, an extreme response to extreme circumstances that while ultimately resulting in her death also gives meaning to her life. Scenes between Giraud and her husband Paul (Francois Cluzet), develop stunningly from her introduction as demure wife to furious arguments as Giraud defies her husband as she does the state.
The allure of Chabrol's films is unmistakable and demonstrated masterfully in this set. There is an obvious sensibility to his work that results in a maddening suspense for which no talent for deduction will give relief. One is left riveted to each scene certain that it will provide some resolution to its increasingly intricate plot, only to be left with still more questions. Unexpected twists and vertiginous turns drive towards climactic finales, the culmination of which leaves a viewer slack jawed and reeling
The second volume of this anthology is (as the title implies) an essential addition to the library for all enthusiasts of Chabrol, or more generally of French New Wave cinema, and a suitable primer for those unfamiliar with the style. BAM
