I fantasmi del cappellaio

In this film, Claude Chabrol seems to sum up his mastery of the art with a slickly made, macabre, ironic crime story full of Hitchcock elements and top performances by Serrault and Aznavour.

It was out of sheer coincidence that this viewing followed those of Chabrol's JUST BEFORE NIGHTFALL (1971) and THE BREACH (1970) since it has thematic similarities with the former, while adopting an incongruously stylized approach as the latter!

In fact, we have here a strangling (which, however, is a flashback this time around and occurs towards the end rather than at the very start) that is almost a replica of the one in JUST BEFORE NIGHTFALL. Similarly, the culprit is depicted as being unable to find peace of mind (and, in this case, stop his crime spree) until he is apprehended! With this in mind, the "Cult Filmz" website (where THE HATTER'S GHOST was given a similar rating as mine) bemoans the unsatisfying ending but, as for myself, I was not bothered by its ordinariness (this is, after all, essentially a low-key affair).

Incidentally, Leonard Maltin – who unjustly lambasts the film and awards it a measly *1/2 – may have been baffled by the seemingly deliberate heavy-handedness at work and, consequently, took Michel Serrault's performance in particular to be absurdly overstated. He is literally a "Mad Hatter", thus providing a link to yet another of the director's earlier efforts i.e. ALICE OR THE LAST ESCAPADE (1977). Indeed, as with the afore-mentioned (and intrinsically histrionic) THE BREACH, this could well be deemed a parody Chabrol movie if it were not so compelling (based on a novel by Georges Simenon) and obviously accomplished!

In the long run, THE HATTER'S GHOST emerges to be one of the most purely Hitchcockian works by France's own "Master Of Suspense", with definite nods to PSYCHO (1960) and FRENZY (1972) but also featuring a STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951)-like complicity between the film's two leads. The other protagonist is Charles Aznavour – no less impressive than Serrault, despite having far less screen-time – as the mousy Armenian tailor who constantly shadows the hatter, even witnessing one of his murders, but is too afraid to report him and, owing to his own frail health, eventually dies. Also in the cast are a young Francois Cluzet as a reporter who not only follows the case but is periodically contacted via taunting letters by the strangler, THE BREACH's Mario David as the clueless Chief of Police and Aurore Clement as an attractive woman all the menfolk lust after but who is clearly fated to cross paths with the killer eventually.

A hatter in a provincial town (Michel Serrault) leads the life of a respectable citizen but is in fact a serial murderer. The only person to suspect this is his neighbour the tailor (Charles Asnavour). It is difficult to believe that this film was made in the eighties as not only is the film set in the fifties but it has a totally fifties style production. It seems to be exactly the kind of film that Chabrol and the other members of the nouvelle vague were rebelling against. The story is very straightforward, the characters are stereotypes, the female characters are two dimensional and treated as objects. "Le Boucher" made years earlier is far more modern and superior in every way. The story is well told if you suspend your disbelief and the acting on the whole is good. The town in which it is set is very photogenic, with narrow cobbled streets and no traffic. Not only does it compare badly to other Chabrol films but also to other Simenon adaptations. "Monsieur Hire" has a similarly paced and straightforward story line but is more adventurous in visual style and tells a more modern story with two more believable characters. "Le Horloger de Saint-Paul" has almost a documentary style and requires a lot of thought as the development is to do with the main character rather than the storyline, and is far superior.

What a splendid little film although I had read the Georges Simenon book but not having watched this it seems was never seen in UK. It is a rather lovely little story with lots of going on underneath not to mention the strangling of a rather lot of women we do not see and about a 'ghost' that is rather strange and never mind that the hatter is followed by the tailor and he seems to have fun until one day he can't. Michel Serrault the great actor and has so many different films like with The Inquisitor (1981) with Lino Ventura, La Cage Aux Folles (1978) and even Les Diaboliques (1955). The very good Charles Aznavour is under played as the Armenian tailor with little money but looks as if he knows what is going on as we are also eventually. It is such a lovely and amusing although nasty but similarly and clever Chabrol film.

The plotting of "Chapelier" is actually quite dull, I must admit. But nevertheless the movie is a great piece of entertainment. The one person that makes it worth your while is Michel Serrault. He ranges among the finest actors that France brought to the screen. Here, he simply plays a total nuthead, which is absolutely entertaining to look at. Should you ever come across this movie on TV, watch it!