(LE BOUCHER)

After fifteen years serving in Indochina and Algeria, Popaul (Jean Yanne) returns to Tremolat in Périgord following his estranged father’s death to take over the family butcher shop. Meeting the beautiful, cultured, school principal Miss Hélène (Stéphane Audran), they form an unlikely bond. Then one day the body of a young girl is found in the woods. Regarded as Chabrol’s seminal masterwork, this haunting portrait of repressed violence is both terrifying and moving. Inside a refined and breathless plot is a heartrending drama of failed love – a subtle thriller with a heart of ice.

The screening will be introduced by Prof. Douglas Morrey, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Arts, University of Warwick. He specialises in Contemporary French Literature and French Cinema.

Notes by Marie-Pierre Richard

Screening as part of the Claude Charbol programme at IFI French Film Festival 2025.