Claude Chabrol

Claude Chabrol called it the last Marxist film, and it stars Venice winners Isabelle Huppert and Sandrine Bonnaire. In the Ruth Rendell novel it’s based on, the killer and her motive are revealed in the very first sentence, and knowing where it’s all heading is what makes your blood run cold. — The maid in a large country house in Brittany, Sophie is quiet, diligent and obedient, and she keeps it hidden that she cannot read a single word. In the village, Jeanne runs the post office and never hides what she thinks of the family up at the big house. The two women become friends, and before long one is pushing the other to rebel. — Best Actress Award (Isabelle Huppert) | César Awards | 1996 Best Actress (Isabelle Huppert, Sandrine Bonnaire) | Venice Film Festival | 1995 Pasinetti Award for Best Actress | Venice Film Festival | 1995 Metro Media Award for Best Film | Toronto Film Festival | 1995

Victor and Betty work their way round Europe’s luxury hotels in a camper van in Claude Chabrol’s fiftieth film, and they might be accomplices, lovers, or father and daughter. The director never decides, and Isabelle Huppert and Michel Serrault are enjoying themselves too much to give anything away. — Victor’s first rule is never to take too much, which is why he and Betty, touring Europe in a camper van, only ever con luxury hotels out of sums too small for anyone to call the police. Then Betty spots a courier with five million Swiss francs in his briefcase. Suddenly the rule doesn’t interest her at all. — Best Film | San Sebastian Film Festival | 1997 Best Director | San Sebastian Film Festival | 1997

Claude Chabrol meets the heights of his ‘60s filmography with this suspenseful gem full of playfulness and lethal passion. Isabelle Huppert in one of her 7 collaborations with the director and Anna Mouglalis in one of her first on-screen appearances. — A famous pianist and the CEO of a chocolate factory get married, the second time for both of them. The pianist has a teenage son from his previous marriage, whose mother died at birth. A young pianist enters their lives claiming to be his real daughter. That’s when the new wife’s Machiavellian character comes to play… — Best Film | Louis Delluc Prize | 2000

A riveting game of politics, guilt and well-kept family secrets. Once more Claude Chabrol pokes fun at the bourgeoisie, with a nod to Hitchcock, in this exciting mix of crime mystery and social analysis from the French master of suspense. — A city council woman in Bordeaux has her eyes set on becoming mayor. Her election campaign is derailed by an anonymous letter accusing her family of being Nazis. Some suspect a far-right group is behind the libel, while others think it’s the woman’s philanderer husband who is outraged at his wife’s political ambitions. In the two weeks leading up to the election, secrets will come to light, and the innocents will plead guilty.

Clouzot had an unlimited budget from Columbia, Romy Schneider as his star and hundreds of people hired when a heart attack stopped him, and the film was never finished. Thirty years later Claude Chabrol took the same script and made it with François Cluzet, Emmanuelle Béart and a ravenous jealousy. — Paul and Nelly’s lakeside hotel is having a good season, but Paul has started to notice the way his wife smiles at the guests. At first he only asks, then he begins to check, and soon he can no longer separate what he has seen from what he has imagined. And this is only where his obsession begins.