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Claude Chabrol (1930–2010) began his career as a critic at Les Cahiers du Cinéma in the 1950s and is often credited with launching the French Nouvelle Vague with Le Beau Serge (1958). Over a prolific career spanning 52 years, he directed 57 films and is best known for his bourgeois dramas and psychological thrillers, earning him the title ‘the French Hitchcock.’
Chabrol’s rigorous mise en scène often dissected the French bourgeoisie and provincial social milieu. Some of his finest films emerged in the 1970s. With his wife, actress Stéphane Audran, portraying the bourgeois Frenchwoman, these films explore themes of female alienation, bourgeois repression, and violent crime. Female actors, technical collaborators, and screenwriters greatly informed Chabrol’s work throughout his career in what historian and writer Antoine de Baecque describes as an example, alongside Éric Rohmer, of a feminisation of cinema.
Notes by Marie-Pierre Richard
THE UNFAITHFUL WIFE (LA FEMME INFIDÈLE)
Saturday 22nd (13.00)
98 mins / France / 1969 / Digital / Subtitled
Businessman Charles Desvallées (Michel Bouquet) leads a seemingly perfect bourgeois life with devoted wife Hélène (Stéphane Audran) and son Michel in their charming country home near Versailles. This apparent happiness rests on a carefully maintained façade. Suspecting Hélène of infidelity, Charles hires a private detective who uncovers her affair with writer Victor (Maurice Ronet). Chabrol’s dark, unpredictable tale of infidelity, passion and violence investigates the veneer of bourgeois respectability. An unmissable ‘Hitchcockian’ thriller, and one of Chabrol’s most famous and emblematic films, it simmers with tension, suspense, and unforgettable performances.
The screening will be introduced by Corey Cribb, Postdoctoral researcher in French Studies at Technological University Dublin.
Tickets on sale here.
THE BUTCHER (LE BOUCHER)
Monday 18th (18.00)
93 mins / France-Italy / 1970 / Digital / Subtitled
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 Marie-Pierre Richard, Festival Director, IFI French Film Festival.
JUST BEFORE NIGHTFALL (JUSTE AVANT LA NUIT)
Saturday 29th (13.00)
100 mins / France / 1971 / Digital / Subtitled
Respected publicist and family man Charles Masson (Michel Bouquet) has just killed his mistress, Laura, by accident during one of their kinky sex-games. In a local bar where he tries to regain his senses, Charles meets his friend François (François Périer), the victim’s husband. Chabrol’s meticulous take on guilt, remorse, and its aftermath is an underseen gem. A mirror of The Unfaithful Wife – same bourgeois couple – Chabrol demonstrates the hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie, for whom appearance, luxury, and privilege are more important than justice or truth.
The screening will be introduced by Dr. Douglas Smith, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, UCD.
THE BREACH (LA RUPTURE)
Sunday 30th (16.00)
124 mins / France-Belgium-Italy / 1971 / Digital / Subtitled
After a brutal assault by her abusive, drug-addict husband Charles, Hélène (Stéphane Audran) moves to a boarding house near the hospital where her son is being treated. Her wealthy father-in-law Ludovic Régnier (Michel Bouquet), convinced that working class Hélène has ruined his son, schemes to take custody of his grandson, hiring shifty Paul (Jean-Pierre Cassel) to dig up some dirt. Again targeting the bourgeoisie, Chabrol’s subtle exploration of psychological manipulation highlights the divide between classes. ‘This will be my darkest movie,’ Chabrol said, ‘I’m portraying feelings that could exist in tomorrow’s world if people continue acting madly.’