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As the title suggests, Claude Chabrol s slow-burning psychological thriller is inspired by the actions of an unfaithful wife. However, he s primarily interested in the reaction of her husband after he hires a private detective to confirm his suspicions and reveal her lover s name and address. Naturally, he decides to pay him a visit but, in typical Chabrol fashion, the resulting encounter doesn t play out as one might expect, and culminates in a virtuoso display of sustained suspense that s worthy of Hitchcock himself, especially when a normally trivial road accident threatens to ruin everything. Michel Bouquet is outstanding as the cuckolded Charles, desperately trying to maintain his carefully-constructed façade of bourgeois unflappability as his life s former certainties start crumbling but so too is Stéphane Audran as a woman who still genuinely loves her husband, and will do anything to keep their family together, even after the police start asking awkward questions.
Review
Bouquet's magnetic performance as a husband driven to murder to save his marriage is particularly haunting and disturbing. Truly masterful. --Film4.com
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
A relatively simple story is elevated to a compelling drama by excellent, sensitive acting by the main players.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Classic Chabrol ingredients: cinematography and evocation of place, emotional veracity of relationships between characters, seemingly effortless charisma of the cast. The expert twists of plot that you find in his very best films - eg Juste Avant La Nuit, Que La Bete Meure - and that serve to expose the hidden truths of the characters' natures, are not however present here; the story is instead relatively simple and linear. More a psychological study then than a psychological thriller.
22 of 30 people found the following review helpful
The mobile phone has killed many things but what it has taken from us most of all is the opportunity to make films like La Femme Infidele, Claude Chabrol's 1968 teasing examination of a nuclear family imploding.
You see, with a mobile phone, Helene wouldn't be able to trick Charles into believing she was going to get manicures, haircuts and afternoons watching Dr Zhivago (only a film person could fit in this guilty pleasure). Because with a mobile phone, Helene would be traceable and not the free spirit she plays as a foil to her housewife role in the family's rustic mansion in Versailles. A mobile phone would stop Helene from hanging out with Victor Pengel, a writer on the run from reality .
Charles knows that Helene's love is his in as much as he wants it but he sees that his passion isn't making her happy. He is like a lovelorn person blasted into the late sixties from another time and world. Not for him the swinging sixties as he shows at the kitsch disco when he is seen like a little boy lost looking for Helene. Charles doesn't really want all this free love thing either. He belongs to a one man one woman tradition that goes back to the Middle Ages.
In the middle of the family is the young son, Michel, who, not surprisingly gets a top of the class in a history test, gets all steamed up when he can't find a jigsaw piece and is not afraid to tell his parents that he thinks they are mad.
The telling scenes in this film are when the three family members are together. Slurping soup, breaking open champagne (the day Michel gets top of the class and the same day that Charles finds out the identity of his wife's adulterer ) or lounging around the garden of the rustic mansion. Chabrol seems to be saying that the family is careering away from the members like a train without a brake.
So what are we to make of this film ? Murder mystery it isn't. The murder is almost funny and the attempts by Charles to get rid of the body are definitely so. A portrait of the sixties ? No, only if you like imagining that rich businessmen drank whisky all day while their wives dodged between the raindrops and the cute Peugeots that looked like spacecraft. The kitschy feeling enhances the film as does the music (all ominous classical) because it takes the viewer directly into the world of Helene and Charles.
Who cares if there are no mobile phones buzzing around reminding us to bring home a bottle of Mateus Rose or a bottle of Scotch ? Who cares if we can't explain what it is we do to pass the hours of our day ? Who cares if we have affairs ( how old is that ?) with resting writers ? Who cares if our secretaries come in with mini skirts up to their neck asking us if we want a beer ? This is what cinema is all about or rather once was all about.
You see, with a mobile phone, Helene wouldn't be able to trick Charles into believing she was going to get manicures, haircuts and afternoons watching Dr Zhivago (only a film person could fit in this guilty pleasure). Because with a mobile phone, Helene would be traceable and not the free spirit she plays as a foil to her housewife role in the family's rustic mansion in Versailles. A mobile phone would stop Helene from hanging out with Victor Pengel, a writer on the run from reality .
Charles knows that Helene's love is his in as much as he wants it but he sees that his passion isn't making her happy. He is like a lovelorn person blasted into the late sixties from another time and world. Not for him the swinging sixties as he shows at the kitsch disco when he is seen like a little boy lost looking for Helene. Charles doesn't really want all this free love thing either. He belongs to a one man one woman tradition that goes back to the Middle Ages.
In the middle of the family is the young son, Michel, who, not surprisingly gets a top of the class in a history test, gets all steamed up when he can't find a jigsaw piece and is not afraid to tell his parents that he thinks they are mad.
The telling scenes in this film are when the three family members are together. Slurping soup, breaking open champagne (the day Michel gets top of the class and the same day that Charles finds out the identity of his wife's adulterer ) or lounging around the garden of the rustic mansion. Chabrol seems to be saying that the family is careering away from the members like a train without a brake.
So what are we to make of this film ? Murder mystery it isn't. The murder is almost funny and the attempts by Charles to get rid of the body are definitely so. A portrait of the sixties ? No, only if you like imagining that rich businessmen drank whisky all day while their wives dodged between the raindrops and the cute Peugeots that looked like spacecraft. The kitschy feeling enhances the film as does the music (all ominous classical) because it takes the viewer directly into the world of Helene and Charles.
Who cares if there are no mobile phones buzzing around reminding us to bring home a bottle of Mateus Rose or a bottle of Scotch ? Who cares if we can't explain what it is we do to pass the hours of our day ? Who cares if we have affairs ( how old is that ?) with resting writers ? Who cares if our secretaries come in with mini skirts up to their neck asking us if we want a beer ? This is what cinema is all about or rather once was all about.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good film without the hysterics
"La Femme Infidele", directed by Claude Chabrol is not like other films that deal with infidelity and ultimately revenge. Read more
Published on 2 Sep 2007 by Phoust
There and Now
The mobile phone has killed many things but what it has taken from us most of all is the opportunity to make films like La Femme Infidele, Claude Chabrol's 1968 teasing examination... Read more
Published on 19 Aug 2005
There and Now
The mobile phone has killed many things but what it has taken from us most of all is the opportunity to make films like La Femme Infidele, Claude Chabrol's 1968 teasing examination... Read more
Published on 19 Aug 2005
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