The Champagne Murders

Curiously uninvolving despite fine cast and several memorable scenes of bourgeois grotesquerie accompanied by vaguely Hitchcockian touches. The English dubbing didn't help.

This is not really an early Chabrol who had already been making films for over fifteen years but it does come just before he fully got into his stride and his golden period began with Le Boucher. Fascinating here to see Anthony Perkins with Maurice Ronet and the lovely Stephane Audran, not sure if he knew English or was dubbed but he looks fine. Trouble here is that Chabrol takes forever setting this up and we have to spend what seems an interminable amount of time as the rich are seen to party pathetically with their business transactions forever hovering. Once things do get going there are some great scenes and we struggle to make out who is doing what and for why. Could have done with some of that cinematic style early on but certainly worth a watch for the second half. Apparently referenced in Kill Bill 1 and 2 and I'm guessing that it is the final overhead scene shot in retreating fashion that could Tarantino's eye.

This early Claude Chabrol thriller is rarely seen, but it's just as good as most of his later, more widely acclaimed films. The beginning is a little too languid (as one character puts it, their job is "to do nothing with distinction"), but once the first murder occurs, the film transforms into a gripping, Hitchcockian mystery. Chabrol is collaborating with his regular cinematographer and composer, so the photography and the music are up to his usual high standards. There are some stunningly beautiful women (Stephane Audran in red lingerie is worth the price of admission by herself....and why is Suzanne Lloyd so little-known?), and an equally stunning plot twist. But you must also be prepared for one of the strangest, most open-ended final shots you will ever see! *** out of 4.