The Unfaithful Wife (1969) User Reviews

Chabrol's cinematographic language.

[dbdumonteil · 8/10 · 26 November 2003]

They often say that if someone wanted to see a French bourgeois circa 1970,watching Michel Bouquet in a Claude Chabrol movie was enough!Three times he portrayed this kind of character (this movie,"la rupture" and "juste avant la nuit").Three times he teamed up with the director's ex-wife ,the luminous Stephane Audran(twice as her husband ,once as.. her father-in -law )and together they worked wonders -contemporary Chabrol movies suffer from the dearth of great actors -in "merci pour le chocolat ,how could Jacques Dutronc equal the peerless Bouquet?

Unlike "les biches" which has not worn well because of its subject (bisexual women),once daring,now trite,"la femme infidèle" deals with an eternal story:the love triangle ,and it completely renews it:take the first thirty minutes:it is primarily a depiction of the bourgeois dolce vita: the desirable mansion,the servants ,the good little boy who makes a clean sweep of all the prizes and snubs the telly ,the chic nightclubbing....And when the tragic events occur ,it seems that they accidentally happen:who knows if ,Had Bouquet not found the lighter...Hitchcock's lovers will notice the nod to "psycho" when Bouquet gets rid of the body.

Bouquet and Audran talk to each other but they do not really communicate:here lies Chabrol's talent;when at the end ,they try to establish a true relation,they do not use words anymore:looks,gestures, speak louder than words.The jig-saw puzzle is also a good dramatic element and reflects the couple's confusion.As for the last sequence it's not at all what the audience is expecting:no cries or despair ,but a thoroughly silent scene ,where Chabrol enhances the beauty of the nature which surrounds his characters.Chabrol's thrillers of this golden era,although their endings are full of sound and fury,achieve the feat of leaving the viewer with a feeling of quietness:Michel Duchaussoy (here a cop) sailing away in "que la bête meure" ; Audran ,looking at the still waters of a pond in the dark night in "le boucher" or enjoying a balloon release in "la rupture" ;the couple Audran/Bouquet ,turning off the light for what may be his last night in "juste avant la nuit".

As for this abstract communication,Chabrol would take it to its absolute perfection with "le boucher" ,his towering achievement:besides ,like in "la femme infidèle" ,a lighter (coincidence?) plays a prominent part.

Audran's character is called Hélène.This first name would remain for three more movies (le boucher,la rupture,juste avant la nuit).And Chabrol WOULD NEVER FORGET gastronomy:here ,he gives us a piece of advice about crepe flambé.

Remake with Richard Gere,Diane Lane and Vincent Perez taking on Bouquet's Audran's and Maurice Ronet's parts.

Another Magnificent Thriller by Claude Chabrol

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 2 February 2011]

In Versailles, the upper class Hélène (Stéphane Audran) and Charles Desvallees (Michel Bouquet) live a boring and detached life in their comfortable house, and their only common interest is their beloved son Michel. Every other day, Hélène commutes to Paris and Charles suspects that she might be cheating on him. He hires a private eye and a couple of days later, his suspicion is confirmed and the investigator tells that Hélène is having a love affair with the writer Victor Pégala (Maurice Ronet) and delivers a picture of her lover with his address to him. Charles visits Victor in his apartment in Paris and introduces himself as Hélène's husband, and lures him telling that he has an agreement with his wife that tells details of her encounters. Out of the blue, Charles hits Victor's head with a statue and kills him. Then he dumps the body in a dirty lake and comes back home. Sooner, detectives Duval (Michel Duchaussoy) and Gobet (Guy Marly) interview Hélène explaining that Victor is missing and her name is in her address book. When Hélène finds the picture of Victor in the pocket of Charles's jacket, she destroys the evidence and learns that her husband loves her. But the police inspectors are coming to their house again to talk to Charles.

"La Femme Infidèle" a.k.a. "The Unfaithful Wife", is another magnificent thriller by the master of suspense Claude Chabrol. The story of a couple with a routine life lacking passion and sex that is revitalized by the adultery of the wife and the murder of her lover by her husband is sort of ironical and tragic. The open conclusion is left to the interpretation of the viewer and is also a trademark of Chabrol. In 2002, Adrian Lyne remade this film without the ambiguity of the original film and including an inexistent moral dilemma, as the usual pitiful practice of Hollywood industry. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Brooding and meditative piece exploring trouble in proposed upper-class paradise as love; disenchantment and ill-felt notions spawn chaos and frayed morals.

[johnnyboyz · 8/10 · 8 February 2011]

The two characters primarily involved in Claude Chabrol's 1969 French thriller The Unfaithful Wife have, at least at the beginning, rather an idyllic and somewhat pleasant set up in their lives. When we first encounter them, we see both the husband and titular wife with their rather extended family in a large garden on a warm, sunny and welcoming day; the tone of the exchanges polite, the activity nothing out of the ordinary nor needlessly extravagant. The opening shots of such imagery are quite crudely broken up by a blurred effect which drowns the screen of its focus, the ideal family unit itself thus becoming difficult to firmly latch one's eyes onto; the credits begin, some rather harsh and somewhat official looking credits that scroll upwards in a military manner whilst some distorting piano music plays overhead. It's a fleeting few minutes or so of idealism in-between such a sequence, the film going on to form a superior mediation on human behaviour masquerading as a causality thriller as paradise is rendered corrupt and peeking beneath the surface of the upper-classes reveals deception and titular unfaithfulness.

The film is unrelentingly fascinating, a piece never for more than a few seconds ever in the slightest bit uninteresting; a grim and somewhat bleak study how love, anger and victimisation brew together to create a cocktail of violence and anguish and how that in itself can come to forge a relationship which was never initially set in stone. The film's methodical lead is Michel Bouquet's Charles Desvallees, a lawyer with his own office located in a small enough building amidst the bustling Parisian streets away from the large, more ruralised country house in which he lives with his family. The family, of which, is made up of the titular wife, a certain Hélène (Audran) who's about the same age as her husband and is the mother to young son Michel (Di Napoli). The warm and welcoming day in the garden spent with Charles' mother and Hélène's in-law turns into evening, Charles' verbal illustrating of various plans he would like to have happen the following day involving both he and Hélène out and about doing things are shot down with casual reasons which excuse Hélène from attending. As they sit and observe a television broadcast later on during the evening, the signal begins to break up and the machine ceases to function as well as it might, thus further insinuating a breaking down of communication of an operative item and echoing their marriage.

At work, and aside from Charles' rich circle of friends and busy schedule, he observes through young female secretary Brigitte (Turri) the very essence of temptation. His suspicion brought about by his wife's behaviour, and Chabrol's own channelling onto the audience of signs and notions towards an upsetting of a paradise-like set up or the malfunctioning of a working order, beginning to resonate. Desperate, as thoughts; feelings and drama all at once clinically escalate, Charles darts to the nearest payphone to call a place of business Hélène said she'd be; the piano music from earlier only suggesting at something seriously wrong with what idealism we were seeing beginning to pipe up again to form the overlying soundtrack to the news she is not where she said she'd be.

The painful inevitable is confirmed when a private detective Charles hires reveals to him the truth; that Hélène is, in fact, having an affair and with a writer named Victor Pégala (Ronet) based not so far away. The film allows Charles a moment you sparsely see in today's age of thrillers; a moment of contemplation that has him stand beside a river flowing through the urbanised locale in which the reveal was announced so as to merely look across to the other side of it, digesting what it is has been exposed to him. It is around about here in the film that Chabrol applies a gear change so dramatic and so effective that it propels the piece beyond its combined brooding roots of paranoia and suspicion and into an echelon of unpredictability; horror and human emotion in its some of its rawest forms. In short, the switch in tone and content works remarkably; the film coming to have Charles journey to the man and see him.

The film's causality infused thrills and scares following the venturing into the territory it goes near does nothing to distract the film from its overall tract; it is a film that is able to evoke just as much an on-edge reaction from its audience following a character's glance or nervous facial reaction as it can from a minor car accident. Chabrol's capturing of some of the interplay towards the conclusion as two people are forced into hiding varying secrets from both one another and the police is fascinating, and the film does not loose sight of son Michel's role as the picturesque representative of innocence caught up amidst all this and made to suffer out of others' ill-gotten decisions. Chabrol's overall ending is decidedly bleak, but his conclusion that the two we examine whom previously appeared to fall away from each other only to reconnect when some sort of duality was established, is dangerously uplifting given the sorts of events which aided in this and the actions the lovebirds undertook; all of it combining to form a superior thriller of an immensely sophisticated ilk.

The civilized art of murder.

[MOscarbradley · 10/10 · 4 February 2017]

"La Femme Infidele" is arguably Claude Chabrol's finest film and certainly one of the masterpieces of sixties French cinema. The adulterous wife is, yes you've guessed it, Stephane Audran and Michel Bouquet is the cuckolded husband who decides to confront his wife's lover, Maurice Ronet, with fatal results. Perhaps the gentle art of murder has never been as gentle or as artful as here. I don't think I've ever seen killers, victims or those caught in-between behave in such a civilized manner. The performances are brilliant, the script a constant delight and Chabrol's direction is pitch-perfect. Not to be missed.

Sheds light on the remake but much better

[bucky_bleichert_lives · 17 November 2004]

I found the remake with Richard Gere and Diane Lane ("Unfaithful") intriguing in the way it explored the erotic pull the woman feels to her lover. It was very good at that. Most of the early scenes, especially any with Diane Lane, were very well done. Where Gere dominated a scene, on the other hand -- whether because of his acting, or flawed script or direction, I couldn't tell -- the movie felt phony and forced.

Now I know why. "Unfaithful" tries to exploit Chabrol's powerful storyline, but wants to go in its own direction, too. For instance, the woman in the story is not nearly as central in Chabrol's movie. The story there is really about her husband, and his predicament at discovering that his perfect wife is having an affair. The wounded husband is much more believable here, and thus the murder scene does not feel as lurid as when Gere bludgeons Martinez in the remake. The method of striking blows to the head is the same, yet we understand the meaning of the blows perfectly in Chabrol's original, and the scene immediately previous, when the rivals meet and discuss the affair in the lover's apartment, feels very real and organic in Chabrol (though it is still surprising to find that the husband has come to confront the lover).

By contrast, in the remake, Olivier Martinez plays that scene as part civilized troglodyte and part insouciant brat; Gere comes off as bordering on schizophrenia, or about to suffer a conniption -- a cuckold who's so de-eroticized that his sudden rage reads more as psychopathy. In a movie that purports to be about a crime of passion, the quality of passion feels more like a horror that has gone "off kilter" somehow. The scene is jarring, but not in ways that move the film along.

Having seen both movies now, I do feel like I at least understand how the story might have seemed a good candidate for a remake. La femme Infidele is so good...

It's so good I hardly thought I was watching a movie at all, but living in this story right along with the characters, albeit as troubled observer. It's a movie about the private conclusions that we come to, perhaps selfishly, that we don't share even with the people closest to us, perhaps because we are ashamed of our darkest feelings, those too taboo to admit.

There is a sense that the story's protagonists do feel shame somehow (even in the embarrassingly relieved way the lover welcomes the visit from the husband) but are all too human in the end. There is a sense of desire that emanates from all the characters, who all happen to be pretending at playing one game or another while keeping secrets from one another. Even the perfect little boy is shown to be caught up in his own storms, to the extent that his role in the movie is as more than a signifier of a healthy, prosperous family's bourgeois pride. At one point he explodes at his parents, during a tense evening, yelling at them that he hates them both.

This reading of the self in the throes of a very deep, selfish passion -- while at the same time trying to maintain appearances -- is masterful in Chabrol's movie, and I came away from it believing in the reality of these characters completely.

I can't seem to put it into words too well, but I was very impressed with the understated way this movie examines the tensions that simmer under the surface of family relationships. This is the first movie I have seen by Chabrol and I have to say-- as someone who's seen my fair share of movies touted as "masterpieces" that turn out to be middling -- my faith in the power of film as a storytelling medium is renewed by this piece.

In Every Dream Home A Heartache

[Joseph_Gillis · 10/10 · 3 October 2006]

"La Femme Infidele", which was released in 1968, followed quickly on the heels of "Les Biches", (which, in a perhaps playfully arrogant way, is shown as playing in a cinema during the course of the film), and continued a glorious return to form for Chabrol after a too-long fallow period.

It was the first of a series of what could be regarded 'studies in adultery' starring his wife (and muse), Stephane Audran. In this one a loving husband suspects his wife of being unfaithful and, having had his suspicions confirmed by a private detective, determines to confront her lover.

Although he's often described as the French Hitchcock, Chabrol, while he has consistently proved that he has mastered the basic techniques of the suspense film genre, invariably has been at least as equally interested in the study,- indeed dissection, - of the mores and behaviour of the French bourgeoisie.

While this categorisation might suggest a tendency towards dry academic study, he has shown in his best features a masterful ability to employ a variety of techniques to present his case in a telling manner. In this instance he employs, variously, a combination of subtle character study,suspense film, Pinteresque drama, and some black comedy.

He is greatly assisted here by a clutch of exceptional performances: Audran and Maurice Ronet as the lovers, and, best of all, Michel Bouquet as the suspicious but loving husband.

(As an aside, and I'm not sure whether she served any function in the film other than mere decoration, but the husband's mini-skirted secretary appeared to me to have wandered onto the film from an adjacent French farce. But then,perhaps,it was just a case of Chabrol conforming to the norms of the day.)

Among the superbly-crafted high-points were the confrontation between lover and husband; the various domestic conversations between husband and wife where the nature of their relationship is carefully and beautifully delineated; the various conversations with the investigating policemen; and a masterly final scene (where even the briefest explanatory description would be too cruel for those who've yet to see the film).

Overall, however, what ultimately elevates the film to greatness is the way in which Chabrol presents his subjects as determined to maintain the domestic equilibrium, irrespective of, and almost oblivious to, temporary 'crises' and 'inconveniences'. And in the way in which, he, as director/puppetmaster, while at times apparently mocking, simultaneously persuades us to sympathise with his subjects

Quite possibly his finest film: but certainly quintessential Chabrol.

many levels of ambiguity

[joel-280 · 6/10 · 3 July 2007]

Alice Liddel's (what a wonderful name!!) comment is arguable but, I think, off the mark. Many different things are going on in this movie, and one of the reasons Chabrol is admired is his skill in creating and using ambiguity, which lures the viewer in, requires him to make his own interpretation, and thus involves him in the movie much more deeply than would happen with a clear, obvious story line.

To me what happens between the husband and wife is, they both have become disinterested with each other, sexually and emotionally; the wife takes a lover and, as she and we find out the purpose of this later, tests/taunts her husband: to reignite her love for him, he must prove that he loves her by doing something outrageous, difficult, dangerous, etc. She might or might not have had this in mind at a conscious level; it appears that she did not, which makes it even more interesting. He does it -- again, probably unintentionally -- and thus recreates his love and passion for her, and hers for him. By accident, they have successfully re-courted and re-conquered each other.

This is what it's about, and would be regardless of the ending -- which Chabrol has (again)left ambiguous. Unfortunately, the crucial deed that saved the marriage turned out to be a murder, so there has to be at least a strong hint that they won't get away scot free.

An irritatingly slow movie for quite a while, but ultimately very well done and rewarding for the viewer.

An excellent showcase of suspense cinema!

[The_Void · 8/10 · 8 January 2008]

Claude Chabrol is sometimes known as 'The French Hitchcock', and while the two didn't exactly make the same type of thriller; it's easy to see where the comparisons come from, and both of these great directors are masters of their crafts! This is only the third Chabrol film I've seen, but once again I'm extremely impressed and looking forward to seeing more! Though I have limited experience of his films, Chabrol's thrillers to me are more brooding and personal than Hitchcock's; and while they lack the brazen thriller element that made most of Hitchcock's oeuvre so good to watch, it's made up for in panache and intrigue! The Unfaithful Wife puts its focus on an upper class French family in a big mansion somewhere just outside of a big city. We follow them for a short while until it becomes obvious to the husband that his wife's constant trips into town are a clue that she is having an affair. The husband then decides to hire a private detective to investigate his wife, and after having his fears concerned; the husband turns up at the lover's house with murder in mind...

The film appears to be so relaxed that at times you may wonder whether you are actually watching a thriller. But that is what makes this film so effective; Chabrol often lets his film settle, but there is always tension bubbling beneath the surface and the film is always intriguing, even when there is little going on. I won't spend too long talking about the acting and production values as obviously both are thoroughly professional and give the film infinite amounts of credibility. Most of the action focuses on the couple inside their big house and this benefits the film greatly as we soon get to know the characters. The central scene is clearly the murder sequence, although again Chabrol focuses on the build up rather than the actual pay off and the murder is as cold and brutal as it was obviously intended to be. The Unfaithful Wife is clearly a lesson in how suspense cinema should be; even more subtle than Hitchcock, this film manages to be constantly fascinating in spite of the fact that not a great deal transpires over the course of the film, and once again it's another great film on Chabrol's resume!

Unfaithfully Yours

[sol- · 6/10 · 18 April 2016]

Having located the man who his wife is having an affair with through a private investigator, a well-to-do Frenchmen pays the man an amicable visit in this slow burn thriller from Claude Chabrol. While the film ends on a strong note with a nicely ambiguous final shot, an emphasis on 'slow' really is required as the entire first half-hour moves sluggishly along until the point when husband and lover finally meet. The precious few minutes that the pair share together are unquestionably the strongest in the film with lots of tension and uncertainty in the air as the husband wins the lover's confidence by pretending that he has an open marriage. This intensity peaks as he listens to the lover talk about how gentle and loving his wife is, enlightening him to a side of his wife that he clearly has not seen for a while. The immediate aftermath of their meeting together is pretty riveting too, but following that the film again loses tension and slows down in its final third, never again achieving the excellence of the husband-lover meeting scene. The film almost feels a bit long in a way, but then on the same account, not quite enough time is dedicated to fleshing out whether love, lust or otherwise existed between the two adulterers. Michel Bouquet's towering lead performance goes a long way to keep the film afloat though. Same goes for Chabrol's fluid camera movements, Pierre Jansen's atmospheric score and the rather novel premise of husband and lover meeting on amicable terms. It is such a great idea that is no surprise to learn that the film has been remade no less than three times to date.

surely one of the chilling, yet most effective, infidelity dramas ever made

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 12 October 2007]

Claude Chabrol is a director who has a vast (and reputedly hit or miss) career as one of the Cashiers du cinema alumni, and his film La Femme Infidele could possibly be counted as one of the top crop of his work. There's a control over mis-en-scene, as might be expected (as he puts forth, unexpectedly and hilariously in a song that plays from a car stereo at one point, it's French), that is precise, observant, but also never overtly manipulative- it's almost so held-back emotionally that whenever a character seems to emote it's either through deception or by just the tip of the iceberg seeping through. This makes it all the more powerful, particularly because of how the ending doesn't really resolve anything except that these characters are doomed with each other. "I'm in love with you like mad," says the husband Charles (Michel Bouguet, perfect at that very understated, sincere and almost sinister approach to relating to people, even when seeming to be kidding), as there seems to be a sense of total disaster heading for both of them. But it's more of an existential sort- the law is left most ambiguous of all- and it's that which usually makes the best of dramas in lock-step with cuckolded and cuckolds and the like.

If one's already seen Unfaithful, the Adrian Lyne 2002 Hollywood adaptation (not so much remake) of this film, then one already knows certain big pieces of the plot. The important thing though, in comparison with that film, which is still very good in its own right, is that this time we get only suggestions as to why Helene (Stephane Audran, maybe her best performance) is cheating on her bourgeois husband with writer Victor Pegala (Maurice Ronet), and this is something that irks at Charles most of all. Idyllic comfort broken to pieces and shoved underneath is the context here, and it's with this that we see as opposed to Lyne's film a look not so much at the super-sexual and eventually melodramatic side of infidelity and the aftermath (albeit just seeing Audran's legs is enough to get some men watching panting), but at complacency in the marriage and parenthood of their only child. Even if the child actor isn't very good at expression (he says "I Hate You" and "I Love You" in the same note), there's always the level of discomfort in seeing the unspoken tension in the scenes with the three of them.

And, if for nothing else, La Femme Infidele is a masterpiece of technique. So many shots and angles had me glued to the screen, knowing that there could be no other way to get it right. Surely the script leads much of Chabrol along his paths (the actual moment of murder, however, is an ingenious editing trick), and what isn't there under the surface on screen is assuredly there on the page. But it's safe to put Chabrol on the level of artistry with his new-wave counterparts for shots like the one with Audran lying down on the bed, creeping up ever so slowly, and then cutting to a close-up, the one moment when we see just a slice of conscience. Or when Chabrol gets the emphasis of violence with a quick, simple shot of blood trickling down. Or how he balances out perspective at the house: look as the husband is watching out in the backyard at his wife, her out of focus yet still walking forward as the camera zooms a little more forward. And the last shot- following up on what has been many a decidedly Hitchcokian angle or note put forward, with a contemplative 'Vertigo' shot of mother and son in long-view out of focus. It's one of the saddest ending shots in the history of French movies.

It might sound like I'm hyping up this film up a little, but considering how underrated Chabol can be- in comparison to Truffaut and Godard and even Rohmer to an extent (who, by the way, he co-wrote a book about Hitchcock with)- La Femme Infidele deserves to be seen and re-evaluated not just in the context of "ah, it's French, and it's romance and tragedy." To say that it's better than Unfaithful is an understatement, and it's only fault is that, if anything, it could be a little longer.

Slow On Burning, High On Tension

[asda-man · 7/10 · 24 June 2011]

"The Unfaithful Wife" is the very definition of the word "slow-burner" this means that if you enjoy fast paced, big budget, high concept films packed full of decapitations, fast car chases and thrilling pursuits then this is not for you. However, if you're like me and do enjoy all of those things but also appreciate brilliant direction and cinematography and replace a body count with atmosphere and tension now and again then I think that you should really admire the well crafted work done here by the brilliant Chabrol.

Not a lot happens in "The Unfaithful Wife" as it is centred around one thing, a marriage in despair and a jealous husband, however like other great films it manages to remain gripping and masterful. I really liked the idea of the story and Chabrol plays it out in a Hitchcock fashion, although I find Hitchcock quite overrated and only really enjoying "Psycho" but Chabrol pans the story out in a suspense fashion and when the husband does murder his wife's lover it has a fabulous realism about it. The tension remains high and the suspense is bursting through the roof! but, unlike my family, you have to be willing to look out for brilliant directing techniques.

The cinematography is excellent, it captures the central characters and the breaking down of the marriage very intensely, adding to the gripping nature of the film. Chabrol has crafted something quite brilliant here and although it might not be as good as his others like "The Beast Must Die" it still has a fantastic realism about it. Give it a go!

Subtle, Cerebral & Very Tense

[seymourblack-1 · 8/10 · 14 August 2013]

"La Femme Infidele" (aka "The Unfaithful Wife") is a psychological thriller that charts the course of events that follow after the passion is lost from an otherwise happy eleven-year-old marriage. Suspicion, betrayal and jealousy create a cocktail of emotions which eventually become totally uncontrollable and lead to a violent incident that changes the couple's lives forever. The fact that their feelings are constrained within certain parameters (which are imposed on them by their middle-class sensibilities), creates the powerful tension which is such a strong and consistent feature of this movie.

Charles Desvallees (Michel Bouquet) is a wealthy businessman who lives in a beautiful château near Versailles with his wife Helene (Stephane Audran) and their son Michel (Stephane Di Napoli). Outwardly, they appear to be a happy family but some of Helene's actions lead Charles to suspect that she may be having an affair and so he employs a private detective to investigate. After the detective reports that Helene is involved with a divorced writer called Victor Pegala (Maurice Ronet), Charles decides to visit his wife's lover at his apartment. The two men initially converse in a very calm and friendly manner but as the evidence of his wife's infidelity becomes increasingly vivid, Charles' emotions overwhelm him and he strikes Pegala with a heavy ornament and kills him.

Following the incident at Pegala's apartment, Charles and Helene maintain their appearance of normality but there's also some evidence that they're beginning to unravel. The developments that follow unfold in a style which is both surprising and fascinating, not least because of what they reaffirm about the couple's relationship.

One of the pleasures of watching this movie is seeing the way in which so much of what's going on happens without ever being spoken about. Helene never actually mentions her frustration, her adultery or the fact that she finds evidence of Charles' crime and Charles never talks about his suspicions, his crime or the depth of the pain that he obviously experiences as a result of being betrayed by his wife. Similarly, all the emotional turmoil is routinely masked by an air of tranquillity because maintaining a veneer of normality is so important to people of their social standing.

In a film that's as subtle and cerebral as "La Femme Infidele" the demands on the actors are considerable and the fact that Bouquet and Audran convey so much so successfully without being able to talk about their thoughts and feelings emphasises just how talented they are. A real high point comes in a scene close to the end where Stephane Audran's subtle smile very economically speaks volumes about what she's thinking and feeling at that time. This is just one example of the top class acting that contributes so much to the success of this movie which really needs to be seen more than once in order to fully appreciate it.

Has The Technique, But Lacks Life

[Eumenides_0 · 6/10 · 30 March 2010]

In my desire to discover the work of Claude Chabrol, I watched The Unfaithful Wife. And I regret saying it was a disappointment.

Chabrol constructs a capable, but unmemorable suspense movie. He knows the language and structure of the genre, but the movie lacks that extra element that makes it special.

A loving husband suspects his wife is betraying him with another man. He hires a private detective to prove him right. Then he decides to confront the lover. There's no point describing the rest of the story, but then again there's nothing worth describing afterwards. It's a straightforward, banal plot without any innovation, interesting dialogue or great acting to rise it above mediocrity.

There is perhaps fifteen minutes worth of tension, suspense or originality in the movie. They occur when the husband meets the lover. He does it in a charming, friendly way. He insinuates himself into the lover's apartment with full honesty but pretending not to care about the affair. He earns the lover's trust. All the time the viewer is thinking what is going to happen next. It's genuinely thrilling, but that's it.

There's an attempt at ambiguity at the end of the movie, but rather than being something that challenges our ideas or values, it's just one of those dull ambiguous endings that desperate directors of thrillers end their unspectacular movies with, where we're left wondering whether the killer is or is not going to be caught. Seeing as how that's not really the point of the movie, and seeing how the viewer is never seduced into caring about the characters all, it's quite pointless.

Claude Chabrol is so praise - he's called the French Hitchcock; but people can be too generous in their compliments sometimes - that I'm hoping my next attempt at his movies will be better. But this was a poor introduction.

Typical so-called French "intellectual chic" of the 1960s

[cribyn44 · 2/10 · 14 October 2010]

I only managed to get just past the point of the husband's murder of his wife's lover before switching off because it was far too late to continue with this dulling example of so-called French "intellectual chic" of the 1960s. Some examples back then were so bad - "deep intellectual musing" over just a cup of coffee or glass of wine etc. Here, we fell about laughing about two things. One, whenever the husband's vivacious and flirty mini-skirted secretary made her far too infrequent flighty appearances on screen - that really brought the screen to life. Two, which had us both laughing out loud: the scene where the husband bounds up the body of the murdered lover, struggles the whole time he is dragging it out of the latter's ground floor flat to push it with difficulty into the boot of his car, in broad daylight and right opposite an apartment block with windows (a previous scene had shown a window cleaner at the apartment block) - and yet, and yet, not a single car passes by the whole time. Nor, however much one tries to find them on screen, can a single human being be seen. And this is presumably in the morning or afternoon of a busy Parisian day in the suburb of Neuilly. What a lucky tourist it would be to find such peace and quiet anywhere today in modern day Paris. And yet again, another pretentious French film from the 1960s.

Stylish Chabrol, thrilling from beginning to end, solid performances

[Camera-Obscura · 23 January 2007]

THE UNFAITFUL WIFE (Claude Chabrol - France 1968).

Claude Chabrol's "La Femme infidèle" is an excellent thriller, or "A Psycho-sexual Study in Murder" as the film was advertised on certain posters, reflecting his cynical disgust against the petty bourgeoisie. Charles Desvallées (Michel Bouquet) becomes suspicious his wife Hélène (Stéphane Audran) is having an affair. Charles hires a private detective who comes up with the name of Victor Pegala (Maurice Ronet) and then goes off to confront his wife's lover.

Bouquet and Audran pitch their roles superbly and with an excellent score, Chabrol's cold, cynical dissection of marriage and murder is just as good as anything Hitchcock ever made. Yet, the film has Chabrol's own distinctly detached style, employing different point of view shots, instantly making the viewer part of the couple's troublesome marriage as we uncomfortably watch Stéphane Audran inevitably on her way to be unmasked. Chabrol stages a long scene giving more than a little nod to Hitchcock's PSYCHO. Besides Bouquet who always gives a tongue-in-cheek performance, his charming honey-bunny assistant in his office had me laughing each time she made her appearance.

Remade in 2002 with Richard Gere and Diane Lane as UNFAITHFUL.

Camera Obscura --- 8/10

What I Did For Love

[writers_reign · 8/10 · 21 February 2005]

There are at least two ways of describing this entry: Early Chabrol and/or Vintage Chabrol. Depends on what you mean by love. Chronologically it dates from his early days as writer-director and if you are moved to describe those days as vintage then who am I to argue. Certainly it has Chabrol's signature all over it; the cool, almost passionless behaviour of the principals, the affluent lifestyles usually on the fringes of large cities (in this case Versailles and Neuilly) which could be read by those who have nothing better to do as a metaphor for the leading characters who could be said to exist on the fringes of civilised behaviour. This time around Michel Bouquet is in a well established marriage with Stephane Audran - at one point Audran remarks to their son that he will soon be ten years old - and although he seems to have little interest in sleeping with her, witness his polite rejection of her sexual overtures, he doesn't take too kindly to Maurice Ronet pinch-hitting for him. Having acquired Ronet's address via private heat he pays a social call on his wife's lover and almost as an afterthought brutally kills him whilst discussing the situation as one civilised man to another. Naturally Audran is in the frame yet soon enough the attention switches to Bouquet at which point Audran, realising what has happened, destroys evidence that could help convict Bouquet. Like I said, civilised to a fare-thee-well. Lots of quality on offer here, Writing, Direction, Acting, Photography all up to snuff and beyond. Highly enjoyable.

The Talented Monsieur Michel

[Myshkin_Karamazov · 9/10 · 11 April 2009]

What Michel Bouquet does in his role as the husband to Stephane Audran's title character can only be described as an acting tour-De-force. MAGNIFICENT!

Audran is not bad herself, but a notch less than stellar. Or maybe her performance just pales in comparison to her co-star. As does pretty much everything else in the film. From a certain point onwards, it is Bouquet who becomes the co-auteur, as for as the viewer is concerned.

The film has a very remarkable score, which Chabrol uses effectively as if both checking, and challenging the Hitchcockian legacy of pronounced scores in the thriller realm.

With unmistakable, (still his kind of) nouvelle-vague elements, the film admirably reflects director's familiarity with the classic genre and its (then) modern subversion.

With unmistakable, (still his kind of) nouvelle-vague elements, the film admirably reflects the director's familiarity with the classic genre and its (then) modern subversion. The economy and brilliance of shots is such that viewer cannot take eyes off screen, not for one sec. The last shot alone informs a good lot more than an average novella. And demands a separate essay I am not gonna write. However, it becomes quite clear early on that this auteur, unlike some others, is not at all that keen on subversion for the very sake of it.

La Femme Infidele has all the bearings of a rebellion forgone, if you please. It definitely looks like the work of an auteur, but not just a rebel kind, but a mature mind, someone well on his way to become a real master of the medium: already he affords to be audacious, or flexible, every which way to fulfill demands posed by his art. This audacious flexibility in turn provides the auteur opportunity to comment, in his fashion, if not alter the rules of the genre that he is seen, here as well, rebelling against and compromising with.

Well-observed crime drama

[gridoon2024 · 7/10 · 26 April 2010]

Yet another one of Claude Chabrol's slow, dark, deceptively calm psychological / crime thrillers, and as these things go, "La Femme Infidele" is probably one of his most successful efforts. There is one sequence in particular, the confrontation between Michel Bouquet and Maurice Ronet, that is absolutely riveting cinema - it will have you holding your breath. And there is also an amusing homage to Hitchcock (the car accident - jammed trunk scene). Bouquet is superb in this film - he maintains a friendly, calm exterior most of the time, but you can see that there's a whole range of emotions hidden behind it. Stéphane Audran looks great (those legs!), but her best scene comes near the very end: a long tracking shot that follows her and focuses on her face as it takes a "Mona Lisa"-type expression, with just a hint of a smile. I do have three objections about the film: 1) The title leaves little doubt as to how "fidele" "la femme" really is; the first 30 minutes might have played even better if we were less certain that Bouquet's suspicions weren't mere paranoia, 2) Audran's affair is not very developed, and her marriage does not look dysfunctional enough for her continued infidelity to be in some way justified; 3) The last shot is technically beautiful, but very inconclusive; personally I think the film should have ended one scene earlier. For an even more twisty-turny variation on a similar scenario, check out Chabrol's "Innocents With Dirty Hands". *** out of 4.

P.S: Brigitte the secretary is hot as hell!!!

Chabrol's brilliant first attempt at a 'Madame Bovary'.

[the red duchess · 8/10 · 19 February 2001]

'The Unfaithful Wife' is really about a faithful husband, who will kill to save his marriage. This kind of fidelity is a chilling exercise of power - the film's many point-of-view shots are mostly his - with adultery a rebellion, a bid for freedom that must be crushed. It's not enough that Charles uncovers his wife's lover, he must sit on the bed they make love on, drink the same drink...

Chabrol's most perfect film, where character inertia is expressed in blatant artifice, both in the home and in 'nature'; where a materialist filming of materialists conceals an austere spirituality, embodied in those Fateful policemen. Like his namesake Bovary, Charles sleeps when his exquisitely beautiful wife offers herself to him. He deserves what he gets.

The Selfish Gene.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 21 December 2017]

A very European tale of an upper-class Frenchfamily in comfortable circumstances. They get along well, love each other, and have a beautiful child. The only problem is that the wife (Audran) is bedding some other guy several afternoons a week, the husband (Bouqet) finds out about it and visits the lover, who greets Bouqet with a bemused rictus. Bouqet has an awkward exchange with him, bops him over the head with bust of Nefretiti, and disposes of the corpse in an algae-covered pond.

Audran knows nothing of this, only that her afternoon lover has done a disappearing act. During two visits from suspicious but very polite police inspectors, husband and wife both deny having known the deceased. Audran later discovers that Bouquet has been lying -- she finds her boy friend's photo and address in the pocket of one of her husband's jackets. Since she loves her husband, she destroys the evidence of his crime. A third visit from the police ends ambiguously.

Now, the French have a sense of how to do things avec élégance and indeed I doubt that this movie would have been made in Hollywood or even in France during the era of nouvelle vague. It's too deliberate, too slow, too artfully done. And we don't see anybody's brains spilled out all over the landscape. Director Chabrol has done a fine job but you need an episodic memory of more than five seconds to appreciate it.

The performances too are vaguely European. Everything is smooth except during rare arguments, and I love to see the French lose their patience with one another. Audran is an attractive lady, indignant with the carefully poised questions of the police. Bouquet is equally controlled, with the central point of his upper lip dipping somehow into his lower lip, something like a Peruvian tapir or like my gastroenterologist, Dr. Pyloris.

Someone criticized the scene in which the kid drinks a glass of champagne but when it comes to alcohol France is part of the Mediterranean tradition. Younger children may be given "red water" -- water mixed with wine. It's all highly ritualized and there's little drunkenness.

The musical score is sparse but perfectly apt. The photography captures on film a rather nice city and an even nicer country estate where a man can spend time casually trimming his plants. The British translation eledes some of the more colorful expressions.

A good job.

Another fascinating low-key crime drama from Claude Chabrol

[Red-Barracuda · 8/10 · 4 November 2011]

Claude Chabrol is known affectionately as 'the French Hitchcock'. And while I can see why he is labelled as such, it isn't a terribly accurate description. His films are ostensibly thrillers but the difference between Chabrol and Hitchcock is that the former is only superficially interested in suspense. His films effectively use the thriller framework in order to explore issues of human psychology, morality and sexuality. While pivotal, the crimes depicted in his films are almost incidental, they are merely catalysts that lead to the human dramas that truly interest him. Its the psychological aftermath of crime and the complex human emotions that it unleashes that drives his films.

La Femme Infidèle is no different in this regard. Its about a love triangle that ends in the murder of the secret lover. The married couple's relationship actually strengthens on account of this homicide. This atypical approach to human relationships is common in Chabrol's universe. I wouldn't necessarily say that characters in his movies act in particularly realistic ways. They always seem to be somewhat emotionally detached. In this case it is no different. The married couple seem to navigate through these moments of heightened tension with little more than a Gallic shrug. But this is the style of the director and his familiar ensemble of actors. Once again his muse Stéphane Audran is radiant as the unhappy wife; while Michel Bouquet impresses as her husband. Visually the film is typical in its low-key look, which fits the psychological mood. Its pastel colours reflect the detached feeling too.

Its one of the directors best films. Everyone is on the top of their game and the deceptively simple plot line is never less than engaging. Like most other Chabrol, there is a lot going on under the surface here. It ends on a very ambiguous note. One than can be interpreted in different ways. The final camera pan is strangely compelling and mysterious. It makes you want to watch the movie again.

Really slow but full of tension

[stefanozucchelli · 7/10 · 26 March 2022]

Movie that gives goosebumps, slow but exciting and with a good soundtrack. Not suitable for everyone and needs a good dose of patience to be seen. Love reveals one of its darkest aspects in this film in which a wife and husband try to end up in jail after their lover's murder.

Lost in a dream that turns dark

[edgeofreality · 10/10 · 12 November 2020]

French middle class life circa 1970 - whisky, Mercedes, grinning secretary, adultery, murder. I watched fascinated but couldn't fathom exactly what had gone wrong in the marriage. A fear of women is in the equation, from the sports car driving mother to the smooth, blithe wife who always seems in control till it's too late. The detectives at the end, so discreet and polite, are like the angels of death, and the husband's loss feels truly pathetic.

Great, unrealized potential: to be seen many times like kaleidoscope

[maureenwheat · 4/10 · 18 January 2007]

The Unfaithful Wife seems to be separate, but over lapping stories: like minimally invasive Venn Circles. The premise is divided: France's socially passive nes'pas attitude and fundamental acceptance of extramarital affairs, contrasted with one parties fundamental and conventional recognition of fidelity.

The center piece of cohesion in the film is the married couple have a child. wife learns illegitimate lover also has offspring. This seems to create a divisive consternation within her.

The lover distances himself from attentive loyalty to his progeny, to which the unfaithful wife cannot accede. There is a specific statement made by the unfaithful wife that is the recognition of true separateness from lover back to husband. The end is a surprise.

SUMMARY AND SUGGESTIONS Overall, the themes are humanly dense and rich. But one must repeatedly watch this movie to ascertain the potential motives of each character. This movie is closer to a GREAT DRAWING PROMO or TRAILER, THAN A COMPLETE MOVIE. Excellent diversity of prototypes, realistic themes, very good acting======lacks expressive character depth This final one flaw is equivalent to a hot air balloon, with no hot air. You understand the concept, but never realize its human experience beauty in completion. A B&W remake would be really interesting.

Subtle yet very poweful

[proud_luddite · 9/10 · 10 October 2020]

In a Paris suburb, a wealthy couple with a young son seems to have a happy marriage. However, the husband believes his wife is unfaithful (thus, the title) and sets out to find if this is true.

Much of this film is quiet and subtle. While this technique might seem dull in some films, director Claude Chabrol uses it to great effect creating tension and suspense. One pivotal scene involving a conversation between two people is tense to the point of being perverse. It occurs just before a major plot twist.

Credit can also be given to the actors who portray the married couple: Stépane Audran and especially Michel Bouquet who does a superb job in appearing restrained while his eyes betray the rage coming to the surface. - dbamateurcritic

Rating: 9 out of 10

Notable Achievement: Directing by Claude Chabrol