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Le Boucher [1969]


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A great French classic
Review date: 2008-10-02 Rating: 8 out of 10

If you are looking for an action-packed, thrill-a-minute sort of film then you should probably look elsewhere. If that first sentence hasn't put you off buying Le Boucher then you'll know it's right for you. The film contains some superb acting, but the real star of the show for me was the French countryside. The 1960s in rural France are wonderfully evoked and gave me a sense of longing to step into that now disappeared world.

For me the psychological thrill element worked perfectly. It's not clear whether or not the seemingly nice butcher (who, incidentally, looks quite like Harry H Corbett from Steptoe and Son) from from the village is a sadistic killer or simply what he purports to be. Is the schoolmistress safe with him in her house? The film builds to a tension-filled ending in which everything is revealed.

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Reviews


A minor Chabrol
Review date: 2007-08-31 Rating: 6 out of 10

Chabrol sets the scene and tees the plot up expertly as always, but the film doesn't really follow through on its early promise. Unlike the best Chabrol, the plot is entirely predictable and character is not fully explored. There's a sense that he ran out of time, money or inspiration about two thirds of the way through shooting. But for Chabrol completists, worth watching for the performances and the sense of atmosphere.

Not a masterpeice, but still worth watching
Review date: 2007-08-15 Rating: 6 out of 10

I was a little disappointed by the film as it gets a top-rating in Halliwell implying that it is one of the best films ever made, which it isn't. It's a good film, well-made with convincing performances from the two main characters. The story, though, is very slight and is neither a thriller nor a crime story: it's more a study of a budding relationship where the woman knows very little about the man who becomes obsessed by her.
A film to watch once, but not a classic.

Inevitably, bad things happen
Review date: 2007-06-19 Rating: 8 out of 10

Helene Daville (Stephane Audran) is the school mistress in Tremolat, a quiet village in the Perigord region of France. She's a confident, attractive woman who had a love affair ten years ago and who now has no desire to become enmeshed again. Popaul Thomas (Jean Yanne) is the village butcher. He spent 15 years in the army serving in Indochina and Algeria. He's seen things he doesn't care to talk about. At a wedding they meet and become friends. He is strongly attracted to her, and brings her presents of choice cuts of meat. She likes him, even cares for him in a way, but resists anything more intimate. Then young women are found butchered in the region.

This really isn't a mystery movie and it isn't a tedious psychological drama. The way in which these two people are drawn to each other is at once curious and intriguing. Is Helene a woman who will put herself in danger because she is able to feel so few other things? Is Popaul simply a man who wants more than he has or is he a serial murderer? If he is a murderer, on what levels is he guilty? How deep are the feelings and complexities within Helene as, at one point, she keeps hidden a piece of evidence that could point to the murderer?

I found the movie consistently involving but not one that had me either guessing or emotionally engaged. Audran and Yanne both give outstanding performances. Audran's character seems cool and in control, but she unexpectedly shows deeper feelings, especially when she is dealing with the students in her charge. Yanne looks a little like 80 per cent Mel Gibson and 20 per cent Andy Kaufman. Popaul comes across as an entirely competent man, able to handle whatever might come his way. But at the same time there is a wounded vulnerability about him that can create uneasy feelings. And for old car fans, Helene Daville drives a Citroen 2CV, a model no longer made. It was the French equivalent of the old VW, cheap to buy, reliable, and easy to fix if anything went wrong. It's so ugly a car it has great style.

I thought the movie was involving and well worth watching. The DVD transfer, while not bad, could have used some work.

Disappointing presentation
Review date: 2007-01-03 Rating: 8 out of 10

This is an excellent example of late New Wave filmmaking, marking the point at which Chabrol started to get a bit artier, and there's nothing wrong with that provided the characters and settings are interesting, which they are here.
What I object to is the unnecessary cropping of the film's anamorphic aspect ratio to 16:9, obvious from the titles, when the principal performers' names are incomplete at the periphery of the frame. This is not what one should expect from a so-called Claude Chabrol Collection. It made the elegant gliding around locations of Chabrol's camera a less noticeable advance on the 16mm handheld days of earlier films such as Les Bonnes Femmes.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Antonio Passalia
Stéphane Audran
Mario Beccara
Pascal Ferone
Jean Yanne

Creators:
Stéphane Audran (Primary Contributor)
Jean Yanne (Primary Contributor)
Jean Rabier (Cinematographer)
Claude Chabrol (Writer)
Jacques Gaillard (Editor)
André Génovès (Producer)

Director(s):

Recording label: Arrow Films
Manufacturer: Arrow Films
EAN: 5027035003245
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2004-07-05
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 89 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1971-12-19
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: French (Original Language)

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