JUST BEFORE NIGHTFALL

Anna Douking

JUST BEFORE NIGHTFALL (aka Juste avant la nuit/1971). Director: Claude Chabrol. 

At the very opening of Just Before Nightfall we see that rather unemotional Charles Masson (Michel Bouquet) has strangled his lover, Laura (Anna Douking). Immediately afterward he runs into Laura's husband -- and his best friend -- Francois Tellier (Francois Perier), but acts as if nothing has happened. Charles has a wife, Helene (Stephane Audran), and two lovely children. Although Charles initially seems unaffected by his actions -- and there is a question of whether or not the death was deliberate or "accidental" -- it clearly begins to nag at him. Meanwhile Francois decides not to tell the police that his friend was seen at Laura's special apartment because he believes Charles is above suspicion. But Charles can't bear to keep silent about what he's done. But how will Helene react when she learns the truth? And Francois? Charles may be surprised by their attitude.

Stephane Audran and Michel Bouquet

I have always had mixed emotions about Claude Chabrol, whose movies seem hit or miss. I have never seen him as being great enough to be called a "French Hitchcock." Still, now and then he comes out with a memorable picture, and Just Before Nightfall falls into that category. The film is an absorbing, well-acted mood piece, shot through with an air of fatalism. Are Charles and Helene a sophisticated, continental couple above the usual marital conventions? Is Helene a romantic, delusional fool? Or is Charles merely a pig and Helene his dupe? The picture has a very satisfying ending that may answer all those questions. Chabrol's masterpiece remains Les bonnes femmes.

Verdict: One of Chabrol's better movies. ***. 

THIS MAN MUST DIE

Jean Yanne and Michel Duchaussoy

THIS MAN MUST DIE (aka Que la bete meure/1969). Director: Claude Chabrol.  

When his little boy is run down in the street and killed by a driver who doesn't stop, Charles Thenier (Michel Duchaussoy), determines to find out who was behind the wheel so that he can kill him. Eventually Charles' trail leads to an actress, Helene Lanson (Caroline Cellier), who was in the car when the tragedy occurred. Charles begins a romance with Helene in order to get closer to the driver, her brother-in-law, Paul (Jean Yanne). Charles is afraid that Paul might turn out to be someone likable, which would make his job more difficult, but Paul turns out to be fairly odious, someone who is vile to both his wife and son, Philippe (Marc di Napoli). Now the question is: can Charles bring himself to commit murder?

Michel Duchaussoy

This Man Must Die is another memorable and well-acted Chabrol film, perhaps more of a character study than a thriller. For a time the second half of the film -- once Charles uncovers the identity of the driver -- is less interesting than the first half, but then some intriguing events bring the picture back into focus. It is interesting that Charles is not entirely virtuous and Paul is not a complete monster. The film has a moving conclusion, and the use of the music of Brahms on the soundtrack is a decided asset. 

Verdict: Notable Chabrol drama. ***.  

THE CHAMPAGNE MURDERS

Yvonne Furrneaux and Anthony Perkins

THE CHAMPAGNE MURDERS (aka Le scandale/1967). Director: Claude Chabrol.

Christine Belling (Yvonne Furneaux of The Death Ray Mirror of Dr. Mabuse) has not only acquired the majority of shares in the Wagner champagne business -- probably due to her late father's business tactics -- but a gigolo husband named Christopher (Anthony Perkins). Christopher's buddy, Paul Wagner (Maurice Ronet), who introduced him to his wife, still controls the name of the champagne company, a name that Christine desperately wants to own. Things take a strange turn when a drunk Paul wakes up more than once to find a woman's corpse nearby. Has he gone mad or is somebody framing him?

Maurice Ronet

The Champagne Murders is an arresting enough but very odd movie that holds the attention despite the leisurely pacing and almost episodic nature of the first three quarters of the film. Although this is a post-Psycho movie and Chabrol was a great Hitchcock admirer, the murders in this all happen off-screen -- there are no grisly details or cinematic pyrotechnics. Then the whole thing is topped off with a twist that some viewers may have seen coming while others may be merely confused. The final sequence of the film is lifted a bit from The Big Knife but is undeniably effective.

Christine and her maid

As to the performers -- which include Furneaux and Ronet as well as Stephane Audran, Henry Jones [Deathtrap], and Suzanne Lloyd -- everyone is on target with the exception of Perkins, who is badly miscast as the gigolo and doesn't seem to have any real idea how to play the part. Chabrol probably figured that having a well-known American actor in the role would increase box office in the U.S., but it also compromised his movie. Still, there's something about the picture that keeps you hooked, and while there are things about it that may not seem to make sense, if you think about it a bit it works -- well, except for at least one sequence that makes absolutely no sense once you know the big reveal at the end --  although one could easily argue that (considering the thin characterizations) the movie would have worked even better as a gorier and more violent type of French-style giallo movie.

Verdict: You may be scratching your head at the conclusion, but it's still entertaining and Ronet is compelling. ***. 

LES BONNES FEMMES

Bernadette Lafont and Stephane Audran

LES BONNES FEMMES (aka The Good Girls/1960). Director: Claude Chabrol.

Four Parisian shop girls work as clerks, try to have fun when they aren't working, and hope to find love or some fulfillment of their dreams. Rita (Lucile Saint-Simon) is engaged to the condescending Henri (Sacha Briquet), who thinks she isn't cultured enough for his parents. Jane (Bernadette Lafont) has a soldier boyfriend but dallies with a married man named Marcel (Jean-Louis Maury), who is a bit of a jackass. Ginette (Stephane Audran of Les Biches) secretly sings -- rather badly -- in a revue and is terrified that anyone should find out about it. And Jacqueline (Clotilde Joano) is obsessed with a man on a motorcycle, Andre (Mario David), who follows her all over Paris. The owner of the shop, Mr. Belin (Pierre Bertin), is a creepy old lech who breathes all over the gals while doling out supposed advice. Les Bonnes Femmes, a prime example of what was called the French New Wave, is almost anti-romantic in the downbeat but fascinating way it puts sentimentality on its head. The cashier in the shop, Madame Louise (Ave Ninchi), has a "fetish" that she shows to Jacqueline and which turns out to be a grotesque memento that foreshadows the very grim ending of the movie. Chabrol keeps the picture, which might seem uneventful and undramatic by Hollywood standards, moving, makes good use of Parisian locations, and fills the film with interesting details and performances. The young ladies are all quite attractive, while the men they get involved with are generally quite average looking, but this is not necessarily unrealistic. Henri Dacae's cinematography is topnotch, and the unusual and effective score is by Pierre Jansen and Paul Misraki. Chabrol married Stephane Audran four years after this film was released. 

Verdict: Chabrol's masterpiece. ***1/2.

LES BICHES

Frustrated players: Audran, Sassard and Trintignant

LES BICHES (1968). Director: Claude Chabrol.

Frederique (Stephane Audran) is a wealthy Frenchwoman who collects and discards artists and lovers. She picks up a starving homeless painter named "Why" (Jacqueline Sassard) off the street and the two enter into a casual relationship with Frederique footing the bills and maintaining control. At her vacation home in St. Tropez, Why meets an architect named Paul (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and sleeps with him. Initially afraid of losing control, Frederique then begins her own relationship with Paul, which apparently becomes serious. Why seems content to live with and love both Frederique and Paul, but the couple may have other ideas ... With its frank, yet frankly unexplored (except in the most superficial sense), look at bisexuality and polyamorous relationships, Les Biches may seem ahead of its time, but by the late sixties even American movies were dealing with more outre sexual subjects. Les Biches does get points for being unpredictable and absorbing, avoiding the tiresome trap of setting lesbian against straight man for the love of a bisexual woman, at least for its main plot. Unfortunately, the characters of Les Biches are under-developed and not very sympathetic and it's easy to over-rate the movie. Two other characters are a gay couple who are underground "artists" and who live in Frederique's villa. Although they are not screaming stereotypes, they are irritating almost from the first, pretty much demolishing any positive statements the film may have been making about homosexual relationships, which it seems not to have been doing in any case, having other things on its mind. The acting is quite good and Pierre Jansen's distinctive and unusual scoring is a plus. The melodramatic wind-up is perhaps more silly than anything else.  Audran was director Chabrol's wife. He also directed Merci pour le chocolat and Story of Women, among many others.

Verdict: Interesting, but ultimately unconvincing. **1/2.

MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT

MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT (2000). Director: Claude Chabrol.

If you were the passenger in a car, and the driver, looking sick, said "I'm beginning to feel numb all over," wouldn't you tell them to pull over to the side of the road? Well, this passenger doesn't in one of the dumb, illogical moments in this film made by French filmmaker Chabrol from an old Charlotte Armstrong mystery novel. The plot has to do with "Mika" Muller (Isabelle Huppert), heir to a Swiss chocolate concern, who is fond of serving her own special hot chocolate to her husband, concert pianist Andre Polonski (Jacques Dutronc), and her stepson Gillaume (Rodolphe Pauly), as well as any guests she may have. Into this little household comes aspiring musician Jeanne Pollet (Anna Mouglalis), who thinks that Andre might possibly be her biological father. She also suspects one of the members of the household of being a poisoner. Merci Pour le Chocolat is absorbing and suspenseful for much of its length, but ultimately it heads in a predictable direction and has absolutely no surprises. Worse, Chabrol completely fails to bring out the dramatic potentialities of the storyline and character inter-relationships. The film is so low-key that its characters act like zombies when they should be more than a little upset. This isn't subtlety -- this is just mediocre filmmaking. Those who wrongly compare Chabrol with Hitchcock won't want to use this movie as a case in point. Hitch would never make the fatal mistake of leaving the audience without a punch line and way too many unanswered questions to boot. Chabrol and Huppert also teamed for the slightly better Story of Women in 1988.

Verdict: Have mercy and don't make criminally disappointing movies like this. **.

STORY OF WOMEN

STORY OF WOMEN (Une affaire des femmes/1988). Director: Claude Chabrol.

Marie (Isabelle Huppert) is a young housewife with two beautiful children living in occupied France during WW2. She helps a neighbor whose husband doesn't want another child by giving her an abortion, then does the same thing for a number of women. She also rents out one of her rooms to an engaging prostitute who befriends her. She has an affair with a cocky young man, thereby enraging her husband. You know from the beginning that she comes to a bad end. This is based on the true story of the last woman to go to the guillotine in France. The film is absorbing and well-acted, but the nominal heroine, although mostly guilty of poor judgment more than anything else, is not that likable or sympathetic. Francois Cluzet, Nils Tavernier, and Marie Trintignant are the co-stars. The children are marvelous. While not badly done, Story of Women somehow misses the mark.

Verdict: Intriguing but unsatisfying. **1/2.