When you take an International Cinema class at college, your instructor is going to be extremely excited when you get to the French New Wave. Mainly because it was a time when a bunch of film critics at the Cahiers du cinéma decided to quit reviewing and become directors. It’s their dream to become filmmakers after posting movie reviews at your local clickbait website with the dream of being VIPs at RottenTomatoes. Odds are their example of a French New Wave film to show the class will be directed by François Truffaut or Jean-Luc Godard. You might hear them list off Claude Lelouch, Louis Malle, Éric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette, Agnès Varda, Alain Resnais and Jacques Demy. Will they talk much about Claude Chabrol? Probably not. This is a shame since Chabrol kicked off the whole movement. His Le Beau Serge came out in 1958 and was a minor hit in France. The follow-up Les Cousins won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. Chabrol was helpful to his fellow writers that wanted to make the jump from page to the screen. So why doesn’t he get the buzz like his peers when discussing the era? During the late ’60s, when it was hard to get funding, Chabrol made a series of spy spoofs because he could get the budget. This made him less noble than his peers in the eyes of quite a few. Today we don’t question when a Sundance darling scampers off to make a superhero film for a major studio. Back then, he was branded a sellout. Chabrol didn’t stop making film. Eventually he got back to making his kind of films in the ’70s. He kept making films until his passing in 2010 at the age of 80. While your teacher might skip him, Chabrol made over 50 films some more successful than others. Lies And Deceit – Five Films by Claude Chabrol boxes together a quintet of his better movies from the 1980s and ’90s.
Cop Au Vin (1985 – 109 minutes) is also known as Poulet au viaigre is a play off the French dish “Chicken with vinegar.” The film opens with Louis (Madame Bovary’s Lucas Belvaux) secretly snapping photos of a party where some nasty business appears to be discussed between people. He knows quite a bit about the people at the party since he’s the small town’s mailman. He understands that the town’s major lawyer, doctor and butcher have teamed up on a real estate deal that involves buying the house that Louis shares with his wheelchair bound mother (Les Biches‘ Stéphane Audran). The trio pressure the mother and son to accept their offer to sell the estate until finally something explodes. The aftermath brings police Inspecteur Jean Lavardin (The Last Metro‘s Jean Poiret) to the small town to investigate. He’s not bumbling like Inspector Clouseau. Lavardin is a touch ruthless as he picks around the clues in this French town that’s full of secrets. He figures out ways to get into a victim’s apartment without waiting for a court order. He attempts to beat information out of a suspect and drown another. The action is set up like a Columbo episode in that the audience sees the crime and we have to guess what will happen to the truly guilty person.
Inspecteur Lavardin (1986 – 100 minutes) brings back the detective since Cop Au Vin was a success with moviegoers. The detective investigates the murder of a writer who is found nude on a beach. The case gets emotionally complicated since the victim’s wife Hélène Mons (The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik-Yak‘s Bernadette Lafont) is Lavardin’s old girlfriend from 20 years back. She’s single again. Lavardin uses his mix of charm and sadistic impulses to uncover who killed the writer in the small coastal town. Poiret wrote the stage play La Cage aux Folles that eventually became a hit film and remade in America as The Birdcage with Robin Williams.
Madame Bovary (1991 – 143 minutes) marked Chabrol’s major return to the arthouse theaters of America. His adaptation of Gustave Flaubert’s novel with Isabelle Huppert (Heaven’s Gate) in the title role was a literary and cinematic event for those that enjoy Toblerone in a cinema. She plays a woman who lives way beyond her means. She moves up a bit in life when after the death of her farmer husband, she hooks up with a recently widowed doctor. A life of medicine isn’t quite a payday. This leads her to having a series of affairs with the hopes that her lovers will pay up her debt. It’s an elegant film about a nasty bit of business. Chabrol captures the essence of the novel so that you can almost skip reading the Cliff’s Notes before your literature test.
Betty (1992 – 103 minutes) is another woman about a woman from literature. This time Chabrol adapted the novel by Georges Simenon (best known for the Maigret detective novels). Betty (Ponette‘s Marie Trintignant) has hit the skids hard. Her husband discovers her having an affair. This leads to her getting paid to give up her kids and just go away. She ends up in a bar called The Hole. Laure (The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie‘s Stéphane Audran) takes up with her friend and the tales of how evil Betty’s ex-in-laws were. Except she discovers that this might not be a good move. Betty seems to want to get tight with Laure’s boyfriend (Skate Or Die‘s Jean-François Garreaud) who runs The Hole. Betty just might a bit toxic beyond being polluted on booze. This is not a feel-good film about being a good Samaritan.
Torment (1994 – 102 minutes) also known as L’Enfer is a way to link Claude Chabrol to one of his influences. Henri-Georges Clouzot had achieved international fame with Wages of Fear and Les Diaboliques in the ’50s. In 1964, the director attempted to make L’Enfer. Things went bad fast when his star became sick shortly after production kicked off and Clouzot also had health issues. The film was shutdown and Clouzot never revived the project. nearly three decades later, Clouzot’s widow brought the script to Chabrol who completed the movie without a trip to the hospital. The movie is about what can go wrong when things go so right. Nelly (Mission: Imposible‘s Emmanuelle Béart) meets Paul (French Kiss‘ François Cluzet) at a country hotel that’s being fixed up. In a blink of an eye, they are married, have a kid and run the hotel. They seem to have a great life. And then Paul begins to get paranoid that Nelly is having an affair behind his back. He begins to spy on his wife hoping to catch her in the act with one of the many lovers Paul imagines she keeps. This is an intense portrait of a relationship falling apart amidst the beauty of a vacation paradise. Emmanuelle Béart delivers a performance where she can go from a happy wife to a seductress in a simple twirl of her dress. If you are curious about how Clouzot approached his script, the documentary Henri-George Clouzot’s Inferno contains the footage that had been shot back in 1964. The documentary was released by Arrow Video, too.
Lies And Deceit – Five Films by Claude Chabrol is a fine collection of the director’s later works. Unlike many of his French New Wave peers, Chabrol didn’t have an issue making an entertaining film that wasn’t completely obtuse. He has characters that aren’t absolutely crowd pleasers. The first two films could easily be seen as murder mystery films except we’re given a director who doesn’t mind bending the law and his suspects to get the truth. Madame Bovary and Betty deliver characters that have a mile wide self-destructive streak. Torment delivers a perfect relationship set on fire. Chabrol is worth digging deep into after class. This boxset allows you to put on a Chabrol retrospective in your TV room.
If you enjoy this boxset, Arrow Video has Twisting the Knife: Four Films by Claude Chabrol arriving in April. The four titles are The Swindle, The Nightcap, The Color of Lies and The Flower of Evil.
The video is 1.66:1 anamorphic for all the films. Madame Bovary, Betty, and Torment feature new 4K restorations. They do look so crisp. The audio is French PCM mono on all the films except Torment which is French PCM stereo audio. The movies are subtitled in English.
An 80-page collector’s booklet with essays by film critics Martyn Conterio, Kat Ellinger, Philip Kemp, and Sam Wigley plus select archival material.
Disc One:
Audio Commentary by film critic Ben Sachs. Talks about how the film was viewed as a comeback after a few years of films that weren’t successes with critics or the box office. Cop Au Vin brought him back in France.
An Interview with Ian Christie (12:35) is a fresh interview with film historian Ian Christie about interviewing Claude Chabrol at the BFI. He reflects on how Chabrol didn’t mind talking about his films that didn’t work. He talks about Chabrol’s legacy has dimmed, but deserves better.
Claude Chabrol at the BFI (74:35) has the director discuss his career onstage at the National Film Theatre in 1994. Chabrol speaks English with help of a translator. “I took from Hitchcock exactly what he took from Fritz Lang,” he declares.
Special Cinema (29:38) is a Swiss TV series with Claude Chabrol, Jean Poiret & Stephane Audran discussing Cop Au Vin (Poulet au vinaigre) getting into Cannes. Chabrol is such a charming guy. The show is in French with English subtitles. There is a little talk about how Charbrol is considered by his New Wave peers since his movies make money.
Archive introduction by film scholar Joël Magny (3:14) has him set up how this marked Chabrol working with a new producer. He gives background on the actors.
Select scene commentaries by Claude Chabrol (21:43) has him watching the parts of the film and giving background. He points out the camera at the start of the film was heavy. He speaks in French, but there are English subtitles.
Theatrical Trailer (2:16) has Chabrol introduce the film in a Hitchcock way.
Image Gallery has around two dozen publicity stills and posters.
Disc Two:
Audio commentary by film critic Ben Sachs lets him continue his relationship with Inspector Lavardin. He doesn’t think this film is one of the best Chabrol films, but it shows the director at his most relaxes and playful.
Why Chabrol? (16:07) has film critic Sam Wigley make a case that the films of Claude Chabrol remain essential viewing. He points out that Chabrol is one of the leaders of the French New Wave, but also the most mainstream of the bunch of film critics turned filmmakers. He made spy thrillers that upset some cine-snobs.
Archive introduction by film scholar Joël Magny (2:46) talks about how this sequel of Cop Au Vin came about from a project that fell through.
Select scene commentaries by Claude Chabrol (33:58) has him watching parts of the film. He wanted to explore the character of Inspector Lavardin.
Theatrical Trailer (2:14) has Chabrol introduce the film as if he’s at a press conference. Charbrol comes off as a bit of Blake Edwards in his comedic responses.
Image Gallery has around 10 posters and film stills.
Disc Three:
Audio commentary by film critic Kat Ellinger compares it to the rise of the Merchant-Ivory film. Although she points out that it was a long desired project by Chabrol. He had a crush on a red-haired girl who hooked up with him while he was reading the book. Even though the book was brought up on obscenity charges, Ellinger doesn’t see the book having erotic elements.
Imagining Emma: Madame Bovary (16:06) is a visual essay by film historian Pamela Hutchinson. She goes into how the book and the movie match. She goes into previous productions involving the novel including Jean Renoir’s take and an Indian film adaptation.
Archive introduction by film scholar Joël Magny (2:31) goes into Chabrol’s fascination with the book since his teenage years. The director was turning 60 when he finally decided he had to adapt the book otherwise he might not have the energy.
Select scene commentaries by Claude Chabrol (37:59) has him discuss his approach to being faithful to the classic novel. He gets into how he shot the ball sequence.
Theatrical Trailer (1:22) teases us with a woman who wanted so much.
Image Gallery has 19 stills and posters from the production.
Disc Four:
Audio commentary by film critic Kat Ellinger gets into how this was a time when Chabrol was making films that starred women. She points out this is not a romantic film. This is a movie about addiction to both alcohol and love.
Betty, from Simenon to Chabrol (16:16) is a visual essay by French Cinema historian Ginette Vincendeau. She points out the original book came out in 1961 and wasn’t made into a film until 1992.
An Interview with Ros Schwartz (15:21) catches up with the translator from when Chabrol was at the BFI. Turns out she was also Schwartz translated Georges Simenon’s Betty novel into English. She knows how to skin a goat.
Archive introduction by film scholar Joël Magny (2:57) points out that the novel of Betty really doesn’t have much plot.
Select scene commentaries by Claude Chabrol (32:21) has him discuss getting the audience to understand things through visual cues instead of just a character saying it. This involves the fish tank.
Theatrical Trailer (0:53) has her looking through a goldfish tank.
Image Gallery has 8 posters and press stills.
Disc Five:Brand new commentary by film critics Alexandra HellerNicholas and Josh Nelson
On Henri Georges Clouzot (11:04) catches Claude Chabrol in the recording both talking about fellow director Henri Georges Clouzot (Les diaboliques), whose original attempt to make L’enfer was abandoned. He explains why he sought to make the script.
An Interview with Marin Karmitz (25:49) is an archival interview with Chabrol’s most frequent producer. The duo began collaborating on Cop Au Vin He discusses bringing Henri-Georges Clouzot’s original script to Chabrol after the original attempt had been abandoned.
Archive introduction by film scholar Joël Magny (3:15) goes into the ill-fated original production. He goes into how the actors work with the jealousy that drives the story.
Select scene commentaries by Claude Chabrol (39:25) has him ask if home movies can truly capture emotions of the people in them.
Theatrical Trailer (1:21) shows a couple that aren’t in a good space.
Image Gallery has about 40 press photos, posters and pages from the press kit.
Arrow Video presents Lies And Deceit – Five Films by Claude Chabrol. Directed by Claude Chabrol. Starring Jean Poiret, Stéphane Audran, Jean-Claude Brialy, Isabelle Huppert, Jean-François Balmer, Marie Trintignant, Jean-François Garreaud, Emmanuelle Béart and François Cluzet. Rated: Unrated. Boxset Contents: Five movies on 5 Blu-ray discs. Release Date: February 22, 2022.
