L'occhio del maligno

Beautiful and sleek - favorite images are the setting up of the chess and Andre walking down the hill in silhouette.

If there is a movie from Chabrol's early period (roughly 1958-1962)which predates great things to come,it must be "l'Oeil Du Malin" .Although it's not as appealing as "Le Beau Serge" , "Les Cousins" or "A Double Tour" ,it contains the seeds of "La Femme Infidèle" or "Juste Avant La Nuit".

Still entangled in the Nouvelle Vague vices (loose screenplay),Chabrol shows for the first time his hatred for the bourgeoisie ("A Double Tour" was more a paean to Hitchcock than a social comment) ,a subject which will become his trademark in those golden years (1967-1973) when he was ,at least to my eyes ,the best French director .And for the first time,Stephane Audran plays lead -let's pass over in silence "les Bonnes Femmes ",Chabrol at his Nouvelle Vaguest hence at his worst- :a lot of people have said that those brilliant films of the early sixties/late seventies owe a lot to her.

"Le Malin" means "the devil" ;Jacques Charrier was probably not the right choice ,being too good-looking and too limited to play such an ambiguous character ;Jean -Claude Brialy , Laurent Terzieff or Gérard Blain would have shone in this kind of part.This "devil" , a failed journalist ,wants to destroy a nice bourgeois couple who lives in a desirable mansion .It looks like a blueprint for the great films to come.The part of the German husband, for instance,is too underwritten whereas it's perhaps the most interesting.There are memories from WW2 which were already present in the very strange "Nazi" scene in "les Cousins" .His relationship with wife is only skimmed over (just compare with "la Femme Infidèle" or " Juste Avant La Nuit") Essential viewing for anyone interested in Chabrol's work though.

To begin with, this is one of the rarest Chabrols as well as a key early effort. For anyone who hastily pinned him down as the French Hitchcock, this shows yet another facet to his 'personality': if THE CHAMPAGNE MURDERS (1967) saw the director take a leaf out of Fellini's book, here he seems to be influenced by the work of Antonioni – complete with a faux-thriller plot (evoking in some aspects Patricia Highsmith's "The Talented Mr. Ripley", actually first brought to the screen in 1960 by the French as PURPLE NOON) which, owing to the protagonist's enigmatic behavior, progresses gradually into semi-abstraction!

Having mentioned that later Chabrol, the movie under review likewise allows Stephane Audran an unprecedented central role which she carries off with aplomb. Incidentally, even at this preliminary stage, her future husband's thrillers were peppered with sudden shocking murders (as both WEB OF PASSION [1959] and LES BONNES FEMMES [1960] will attest) – and the climax of this one is, undeniably, superbly handled.

The hero – played by virtual unknown Jacques Charrier – supplies the right mix of blandness and arrogance the part requires. Similarly, Jean Rabier's gleaming monochrome photography notwithstanding, the picture counters its essentially rough-and-ready quality (in pure "New Wave" style) with a quite remarkable incisiveness (particularly in the noir-ish dialogue).

At a mere 77 minutes, THE THIRD LOVER (better served by the original title L'OEIL DU MALIN, which translates to THE EVIL EYE – a moniker later also attached to two, obviously unrelated, Italian giallos!) does not overstay its welcome. In hindsight, if back then the film's inherent pretentiousness may have alienated critics and audiences alike, it can now be seen as a shining example of Chabrol's burgeoning talent.

Unlike most reviewers and commentators, I find Chabrol's early films his most interesting. LES BONNES FEMMES and L'OEIL DU MALIN, along with the nearly magnificent Occupation drama LIGNE DE DÉMARCATION are some of the best French films of their time, regardless of connection to The Nouvelle Vague (which otherwise gave us many superb examples by different directors). Here we have a theme that Chabrol would explore much later in LA CÉRÉMONIE, but with more nuance, character depth and atmosphere: the have-not versus the haves. French journalist Albin,as he calls himself, is not exactly a have-not, but he's just getting by and not doing what he's been paid to do while living in Germany. Not fluent in the language, Albin happens upon a friendly and attractive French woman in his neighborhood. Through the mostly unnecessary narration we learn how Albin feels about the woman and her famous German author husband: he envies them and wants to infiltrate their life. He does so with ease and immediately feels competitive with the husband on a professional level (he can't compete there) for the wife (no spoilers, it's complicated). Albin is handsome and intelligent, why does he not live his own life? Perhaps a layabout at heart, looking for free meals and glamorous company--a cousin to Highsmith's Ripley. It's up to the viewer to figure it all out. But that does not mean the film is in anyway confusing or unsatisfying. It's a fine example of early 60s European cinema, a mixture of enjoyable drama, artfully realized on every level. It's beautifully filmed, smartly written and very well-acted. A more textured effort than many of Chabrol's later crime films in color. Once rare, now easily accessible.

L'oeil du malin (mistranslated as The Third Lover) is a real gem of 1960s cinema. I am trying to figure out why hardly anyone has seen/rated it here at imdb. Maybe because it is not in the Criterion Collection? Not sure. Anyway, the film is very suspenseful and beautiful with a completely unpredictable ending. Gorgeously filmed and paced. Plus it is in French and German. Sehr gut gemacht. Tres bien fait.