A Girl Cut in Two
September 22nd, 2007
Chabrol’s latest is a delicious love triangle between a pompous writer (François Berléand), a wealthy fop (Benoît Magimel), and the “divine” TV weather girl (Ludivine Sagnier) who loves them both. Funnier than most of Chabrol’s films, A Girl Cut in Two fascinates with deft characterizations and, of course, the trademark plumbing of depravity gaping beneath the bourgeois veneer. Sagnier shines as Gabrielle Deneige, luminous while wearing a motorcycle helmet, a red evening gown, or nothing but a plume of peacock feathers. We’ll have a full review on About.com soon.
La Fille coupée en deux. Claude Chabrol, 2007. ****
La Fille Coupée en Deux
August 15th, 2007
In Sarreguemines, France, Ludivine Sagnier and Claude Chabrol hold their own among the blockbusters. (Here’s the trailer.)
Comedy of Power
May 6th, 2007
Another acerbic tale from Claude Chabrol. Isabelle Huppert, without much makeup but equipped with an iron will, plays a judge investigating large-scale corporate fraud and government corruption. The powerful woman opposing very powerful men in dinky offices echoes Helen Mirren’s struggle to “grab the machos by the balls” in Prime Suspect, although the crimes here remain abstract. The complex script is executed with masterful confidence, but the English title is a cynical joke: according to Chabrol, there is nothing funny about power. Comedy of Power comes out on DVD on Tuesday.
L’Ivresse du pouvoir. Claude Chabrol, 2006. ****
- The spoilerific trailer:
