Country: France
Year: 1974
Duration: 100'
Philippe is
bored by his marriage and
encourages his wife Esther to have an adventure…
"This
film was a way for Chabrol to
settle accounts with his screenwriter, his "black
soul," his double, seductive
and unsettling, his friend but also his demon. The film is about the
life of
Gégauff, his wife Danièle and their daughter
Clémence." (A. De Baecque)
"Paul
wrote the screenplay just after
he had separated from his wife. One day he told me, 'I
absolutely have to win
Danièle back…,' and he handed me the
screenplay. It was a bit romanticized, but
many of the episodes corresponded to real life, which I knew quite
well. In the
beginning I thought of doing it with someone like Trintignant, but then
I told
myself it would be interesting to have the parts played by the real
people.
Paul immediately agreed, and so did Danièle; I think she
just felt like acting.
We even went a bit further, because I used their daughter, little
Clémence, who
was wonderful. We even shot the film where they had lived."
(C. Chabrol)
Biography
film director
Claude Chabrol
Claude Chabrol (Paris, France, 1930) spent his childhood at Sardent in Creuse, and right from an early age showed interest in detective stories and cinema. He founded the town’s first film club when he was 13. After the war he moved to Paris and enrolled in Arts and Letters, where he was able to cultivate his passion for cinema. After meeting his contemporaries Truffaut, Godard, Rohmer and Rivette, he began working as a film critic for the magazines “Revue du Cinéma” and “Cahiers du Cinéma.” As a critic, Chabrol developed a precise aesthetic view with the idea of becoming a director himself. To this end, his interest in the cinema of Alfred Hitchcock was of fundamental importance and Chabrol dedicated a famous monograph to him and with Rohmer in 1957. As opposed to his film critic colleagues, who were all destined to become authors of the nouvelle vague, before becoming a director Chabrol never worked as assistant director, nor did he make any short films. He debuted straight off directing the full-length film Le Beau Serge (1959), which was made thanks to an unexpected inheritance his wife. The summer of 1960 he directed Les Cousins, the second film of a lengthy filmography which proceeded at the rate of almost one film a year, lasted four decades and in the end numbered over 50 films (the last is L’Ivresse du pouvoir, 2006).
FILMOGRAFIA
Le Beau Serge (id., 1958), Les Cousins (I cugini, 1959), À double tour (A doppia mandata, 1959), Les Bonnes femmes (Le donne facili, 1960), Les Godelureaux (I bellimbusti, 1961), Les Sept péchés capitaux (ep. L’Avarice, I sette peccati capitali, ep. L’avarizia, 1962), L’OEil du malin (1962), Ophélia (id., 1963), Landru (id., 1963), Les Plus belles escroqueries du monde (ep. L’homme qui vendit la Tour Eiffel; Le più belle truffe del mondo, ep. L’uomo che vendette la Torre Eiffel, 1964), Le Tigre aime la chair fraiche (La Tigre ama la carne fresca, 1964), Paris vu par (ep. La Muette, 1965), Marie-Chantal contre docteur Kha (Marie Chantal contro il dr. Kha, 1965), Le Tigre se parfume à la dynamite (La Tigre profumata alla dinamite, 1965), La Ligne de démarcation (1966), Le Scandale (Scandale - Delitti e champagne, 1967), La Route de Corinthe (Criminal Story, 1967), Les Biches (Les Biches - Le cerbiatte, 1968), La Femme infidèle (Stéphane, una moglie infedele, 1969), Que la bête meure (Ucciderò un uomo - Hallucination, 1969), Le Boucher (Il tagliagole, 1969), La Rupture (All’ombra del delitto, 1970), Juste avant la nuit (1971), La Décade prodigieuse (Dieci incredibili giorni, 1971), Docteur Popaul (Trappola per un lupo, 1972), Les Noces rouges (L’amico di famiglia, 1973), Nada (Sterminate «Gruppo Zero», 1974), Nouvelles de Henry James (ep. De Grey; Le Banc de la désolation, TV, 1976), Histoires insolites (ep. Monsieur Bébé; Nul n’est parfait; Une invitation à la chasse; Les Gens de l’été, TV, 1974), Une partie de plaisir (Una gita di piacere, 1975), Les Innocents aux mains sales (Gli innocenti dalle mani sporche, 1975), Les Magiciens (Profezia di un delitto, 1976), Folies bourgeoises (Pazzi borghesi, 1976), Madame le juge (ep. 2+2=4, TV, 1977), Alice ou la dernière fugue (1977), Les Liens du sang (Rosso nel buio, 1978), Violette Nozière (id., 1978), Il était un musicien (ep. Monsieur Liszt; Monsieur Prokofiev; Monsieur Saint- Saëns, TV, 1978), Histoires insolites (La Boucle d’oreille, TV, 1979), Fantômas (ep. L’Echafaud magique; Le Tramway fantôme, TV, 1980), Le Cheval d’orgueil (1980), Le Système du docteur Goudron et du professeur Plume (TV, 1981), Les Affinités électives (TV, 1981), M. le maudit (TV, 1982), La Danse de mort (TV. 1982), Les Fantômes du chapelier (I fantasmi del cappellaio, 1982), Le Sang des autres (Il sangue degli altri, 1984), Poulet au vinaigre (1985), Inspecteur Lavardin (Ispettore Lavardin, 1986), Masques (Volto segreto - Masques, 1986), Le Cri du hibou (Il grido del gufo, 1987), Une affaire de femmes (Un affare di donne, 1988), Les Dossiers secrets de l’inspecteur Lavardin (ep. L’Escargot noir; Maux croisés TV, 1988), Jours tranquilles à Clichy (Giorni felici a Clichy, 1990), Dr. M (Doctor M, 1990), Madame Bovary (id., 1991), Betty (id., 1992), L’OEil de Vichy (1993), L’Enfer (L’inferno, 1994), La Cérémonie (Il buio nella mente, 1995), Cyprien Katsaris (TV, 1996), Rien ne va plus (id., 1997), Au coeur du mensonge (Il colore della menzogna, 1999), Merci pour le chocolat (Grazie per la cioccolata, 2000), Les Redoutables (ep. Coup de vice, TV, 2001), La Fleur du mal (Il fiore del male, 2003), La Demoiselle d’honneur (2004), L’Ivresse du pouvoir (2006).
