Chabrol, Claude

The Unfaithful Wife (La Femme infidèle)

Another suspense classic from French director Claude Chabrol this taut psychological thriller tells the tale of a contented middle-class husband (Michel Bouquet) who suspects his seemingly faithful wife (Stephane Audran) of carrying on an affair. He soon becomes consumed with jealousy and hires a private investigator to ascertain his wife's infidelity. When the detective confirms his worst fears the husband embarks upon a series of events which test the boundaries of his marriage and the extent to which he will go to preserve his privileged lifestyle. Considered by many critics to be one of his best works THE UNFAITHFUL WIFE showcases Chabrol's signature exploration of the hypocrisies of bourgeois morality while cloaking the proceedings in an atmosphere of unbearable tension and suspense. Recently remade as the American film UNFAITHFUL starring Diane Lane and Richard Gere.System Requirements:Running Time: 94 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: NR UPC: 825307904598 Manufacturer No: PH90459

Comedy of Power

Inspired by the "Elf Affair" an Enron-like scandal in France...Jeanne a tenacious magistrate known as "the piranha" pursues corrupt white collar criminals. After locking up an embezzling CEO she pushes the limits of her power even further and winds up in a dangerous game of threats and intimidation.DVD Extras: Theatrical TrailerSystem Requirements:Running Time: 110 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: FOREIGN/LATIN UPC: 741952310198 Manufacturer No: KLFDV3101

This Man Must Die

A hit and run driver kills a child. The child's father Charles wants to do everything to revenge the death of his son. After a long investigation a chance meeting puts him in the presence of Paul a despicable garage owner who terrorizes his family. Paul is the murderer of Charles' son. Charles waits for the right moment to face Paul and to bring him to justice. System Requirements:Running Time: 110 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: FOREIGN/LATIN UPC: 825307906196 Manufacturer No: PH90619

The Butcher

This 1969 masterpiece by Claude Chabrol is a high point of the French New Wave director's mid-career, as well as that of actress Stephane Audran, Chabrol's then-wife. Audran plays a lonely schoolteacher who develops an inexplicable draw toward an ex-army butcher (Jean Yanne) who may or may not be a serial killer plaguing a small town. Drawing on Hitchcockian themes of exchanged guilt and shared secrets, Chabrol constructs an extraordinary relationship between the two characters that marries unspoken self-awareness with constant suspense over the unresolved nature of their bond. The film becomes so responsive to their tiny, meaningful gestures, their pregnant silences, and the comic-tragic synchronicity of their insulated world that the mere blinking of an elevator light speaks volumes about the hell of privileged knowledge. Le Boucher returned Chabrol to the backdrop of the French provinces, which he had visited before in his debut, Le Beau Serge, and later in La Ceremonie. --Tom Keogh

Le Boucher (The Butcher) is possibly Claude Chabrol's best known and critically acclaimed film. At a friend's wedding Helen meets Popaul (Yanne) an ex-soldier with combat honors from Algeria and Indo-China who has returned to his hometown and the family trade of butchery. The two are attracted to each other but Helene is reluctant to get involved as a previous lover has hurt her. Shortly after Popaul's arrival in town the body of a murdered girl is found. When Helene discovers a second victim and a vital piece of evidence that seems to link Popaul to the murders she reluctantly suspects her new found friend. Consistently taut with engrossing twists Le Boucher (The Butcher) is an intense and enthralling thriller. System Requirements:Run Time: 93 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: FOREIGN/LATIN Rating: NR UPC: 825307906295 Manufacturer No: PH90629

Innocents with Dirty Hands

Saint Tropez. Julie Wormser and her lover writer and neighbour Jeff Marle plan the murder of her wealthy husband Louis an impotent who drinks a lot. She hits him and leaves the rest of the task to Jeff. Julie finds herself alone the following day and becomes therefore the prime suspect. Where is Louis' body? Where is Jeff? Is there any secret beyond a door? Nothing is what it seems in this highly acclaimed taut thriller. DVD is French w/English Subtitles & English Dubbed. VHS is French w/English Subtitles.System Requirements:Starring: Romy Schneider Rod Steiger and Jean Rochefort. Running Time: 121 Minutes.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: FOREIGN/LATIN Rating: NR UPC: 825307904796 Manufacturer No: PH90479

Merci Pour le Chocolat

Chabrol, the most Hitchcockian of the New Wave directors, has fashioned a delectable psychological thriller that rivals his classics La Ceremonie, Madame Bovary, The Story of Women, and Les Biches. MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT is vintage Charbrol, with intricate plots that wend their way in a playful yet suspenseful manner through the elegant homes of several well-heeled French-Swiss in Lausanne, Switzerland. Starring renowned actress Isabelle Huppert (The Piano Teacher; 8 Women; School of Flesh), and co-starring French singing legend Jacques Dutronc (Vincent).

Isabelle Huppert stars as Mika, the oh-so-perfect head of a company than manufactures Swiss chocolate; Jacques Dutronc is Andre, her suave, concert pianist husband whose previous wife died years ago in a mysterious car accident. How is it that Andre's teenage son has no musical talent, while the stunning Jeanne, who shares his birthday, is already a world-class pianist? And why does Huppert insist that everyone sip the hot chocolate she prepares so faithfully each evening? Chabrol has fashioned a delectable mystery, dipped in darkest Swiss chocolate.

With quiet dialogue, an understated mis-en-scene, and extraordinary acting, Chabrol has once again given us an enjoyable treat of a mystery, one that gleefully references Alfred Hitchcock, Fritz Lang... and Claude Chabrol.

La Rupture

Helene is a good mother with a checkered past as a stripper and barmaid. She divorces her ne'er-do-well husband and her in-laws blame her for causing her husband's addiction and set out to remove their grandchild from Helene's custody. Thwarted by the courts they hire a seedy penniless operative Paul to destroy her reputation. He moves into her rooming house and begins to insinuate himself into her life hatching darker and more convoluted plots to implicate Helene. A harrowing thriller from France's master of suspense LA RUPTURE ranks among Chabrol's finest works. DVD and VHS are French w/English Subtitles.System Requirements:Starring: Stephane Audran Jean Pierre Cassel and Michel Bouquet. Running Time: 124 Minutes.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: FOREIGN/LATIN Rating: NR UPC: 825307906097 Manufacturer No: PH90609

The Flower of Evil

La Ceremonie

In the 1960s and early '70s, Claude Chabrol was celebrated as the Gallic Hitchcock for his crisp, character-rich thrillers. La Cérémonie, his 1997 hit adapted from Ruth Rendell's novel A Judgement in Stone, is a return to form, an assured domestic drama set in the upper-class household of the kind but condescending Lelievres family. Sandrine Bonnaire, excellent in an enigmatic, uncommunicative role, stars as their new, neurotically silent maid Sophie. She performs her duties efficiently and emotionlessly, staring out from behind an implacable, mask-like face born of loneliness and defensiveness. Isabelle Huppert is the town's gleefully misanthropic postmistress Jeanne, a gossipy, energetically insolent misfit who hates the Lelievres. When she becomes Sophie's best friend, her pathological game of taunts and gossip goes into overdrive with her sudden access to their house, and an already simmering class conflict boils over in unleashed anger. Chabrol charts the cascade of mischief and misunderstandings to its shattering conclusion, with a sensitivity to character and an eagle-eyed remove that makes the explosive climax all the more chilling. It's a devastating thriller, one of Chabrol's best, and a powerful portrait in hate and psychosis pushed over the edge in misunderstanding, manipulation, and mistrust. Jacqueline Bisset is the fumbling but sincere Mme. Lelievres, Jean-Pierre Cassel her complacent husband, and Virginie Ledoyen (A Single Girl) their sensitive young daughter. --Sean Axmaker

In La Cérémonie, Claude Chabrol, known as the "French Hitchcock," creates one of his most shocking and unforgettable thrillers. Catherine (Jacqueline Bisset - Day for Night, The Deep) hires the illiterate Sophie as her maid. But Sophie (Sandrine Bonnaire - Femme Fatale) soon falls under the influence of the mysterious Jeanne (Isabelle Huppert -The Piano Player, Merci Pour Le Chocolat), and the stage is set for a tale of murder, violence and betrayal. One of the Chabrol's most acclaimed films, and the winner of numerous international awards, La Cérémonie is a masterpiece of suspense.

Ten Days' Wonder

From the novel by Ellery Queen, this is a gripping and mesmerizing thriller with an exceptional cast. Anthony Perkins stars as Charles Van Horn, the troubled adopted son of tycoon Theo Van Horn (Orson Welles). Charles suffers from disturbing bouts of amnesia and is becoming increasingly worried about the missing segments of his life. When he awakes one morning in a strange hotel room with blood on his hands, Charles contacts an old doctor friend in the hope that he can alleviate the problem. Paul goes to stay at the Van Horn country estate where he meets Helene, Theo Van Horn's young wife. Charles and Helene reveal that they are having a passionate affair, but their happiness has been threatened by a blackmailer. A trap to catch the blackmailer fails and as deceit, betrayal and fear spread with all four trying to cover up the affair, the mysterious blackmailer makes contact again, triggering Charles' amnesia and leading to murder and a final betrayal