Le boucher

In the village of Tremolat, Périgord, the lonely headmistress Helene Daville (Stéphane Audran) befriends the local butcher Paul Thomas (Jean Yanne), who has a trauma of war, in the wedding party of her colleague Leon Hamel (Mario Beccara). In spite of their friendship, they do not become lovers since Helene is still recovering from the disillusion of her last relationship. In Paul's birthday, Helene gives a lighter to him as a gift. During the excursion with her class to a cave in the woods, Helene finds the last victim of a serial killer that is stabbing young women in the area. She realizes that the woman is Leon's wife and she finds Paul's lighter in the crime scene but she hides the evidence from the police. When Paul visits her, she discovers that he still has the lighter and she feels relieved. However, when Paul paints the ceiling of her house, she makes a discovery that affects her sense of security.

The unknown gem "Le Boucher" is a dark, intriguing and suspenseful love story by Claude Chabrol. The plot is completely unusual and very simple, it is not tagged by an specific genre and can be resumed in the storyline; however, the screenplay, direction, performances and camera work make the difference. The opening scene shows a beautiful area in the countryside of France where the plot takes place. Helene is a fascinating character with her contradictory and ambiguous behavior and relationship with Popaul. Their chemistry is also perfect. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Açougueiro" ("The Butcher")

Note: On 06 February 2011 I saw this film again on DVD.

Note: On 06 December 2024, I saw this film again.

Chabrol's triumph and also Stephane Audran's finest performance;only "le festin de Babette" will give her a part as strong as this one.She plays a luminous radiant beaming schoolteacher ,teaching her pupils spelling with a little help from Honore de Balzac and dance with "le menuet du Bourgeois Gentilhomme",a Molière-Lully collaboration.She epitomizes honesty,loyalty,innocence and devotion to her work.In direct contrast to her,we have Popaul,the butcher,masterfully played by Jean Yanne (He's never been as good as with Chabrol:please,please,do see "que la bête meure" (The beast must die)):He's obviously in love with Hélène /Audran but he realizes the gap between them.He's a crude uneducated brute,but his clumsiness is so touching you side with him.But we know from the start that won't be a happy story:the first scene,dealing with Cro-Magnon in dark caves heralds a story of blood and bestiality.Popaul is Cro-Magnon ,but he's also a victim of the war they waged with his blood.Chabrol 's camera insists on the war memorial,this inhuman piece of stone surrounded by four shells.LOOKS are more important than words between Popaul and Hélène,and as she begins to comprehend the horror of the situation,we know ,that in spite of what Popaul has done,she feels for him.Chabrol excels in depicting a small village ,French critics often compare him to an entomologist."Le boucher" remains his finest work to date.

Who died yesterday or yesterday yesterday, actually. And one of the best part also of Stéphane Audran [with LA FEMME INFIDÈLE [also directed by Claude Chabrol - France 1968]... I totally agree with the commentaries displayed here, especially with the first one written in 1999 from Houston, if I remember well... Jean Yanne was a popular and successful director of comedies but, well directed as he is there by Chabrol, he was a high-class comedian. This part, if he had done only this one, would be good enough for having him. remembered. This original French version of the JACK THE RIPPER theme (though no prostitute is involved so far) is one of the most original of the history of movies from the beginning till today. LE BOUCHER has not at all the "baroque" aesthetic and "crescendo" dramatic aspect of the masterpieces of British Horror movies directed by Robert S. Baker and Monty N. Berman (1958) or James Hill or Peter Sasdy or even by Sir Alfred in FRENZY... but it is a full continent in itself - as well as, though in a totally different way, LES NOCES ROUGES or NADA by the same director. Chabrol is, in fact, one of the best directors of French cinema from the 60's to the 70's : after it is decreasing level after 1975 but sometimes going well again (LA CÉRÉMONIE)...

If Chabrol has any claim to be the French Hitchcock then it is surely based on this, his best film. Starring his wife Stephane Audran it is set in a French village, which helps give a profound sense of isolation to the terrible events which take place there. As with all great thrillers the fear comes through the gradual realisation of what is really happening, rather than the continuous portrayal of graphically violent acts. The sense of evil in the film is palpable. Unmissable!

In my ongoing program of finally seeing films I should have seen years ago, tonight I watched "Le Boucher" on VHS. After two minutes of it, I wasn't sure I could bear to watch any more. And there was no overt cause for my uneasiness! All that was being shown was a simple country wedding banquet--yet there was such a palpable sense of unrest and evil that I felt like crawling down into the sofa to escape from it. And this relentlessly oppressive atmosphere persisted through the entire film.

How Claude Chabrol managed this seeming magic is beyond my comprehension. He instantly draws the viewer into a world very similar to Hitchcock's, but without the comic relief that Hitchcock unfailingly put into his films. Without the relief of tension that comedy affords, the experience of the film becomes almost unbearable--but I managed to sit through this entire short masterpiece, marveling at how a skilled director can create so much nerve-wracking suspense with so few means.

I was especially impressed by the film's totally unpretentious nature. The lighting is downright amateurish (on purpose, I'm quite certain), there are no special effects whatever, the dialogue is simple and straightforward: and in a theatrical setting, I think I would have been about scared out of my pants.

I can see why Chabrol has been called "the French Hitchcock." The honor is well and truly deserved.