Le Boucher
| Le Boucher | |
|---|---|
 French film poster | |
| Directed by | Claude Chabrol |
| Produced by | André Génovès |
| Written by | Claude Chabrol |
| Starring |
Stéphane Audran Jean Yanne |
| Music by | Pierre Jansen |
| Cinematography | Jean Rabier |
| Edited by | Jacques Gaillard |
| Distributed by | Cinerama Releasing Corporation (U.S.) |
Release dates | February 27, 1970 |
Running time | 93 mins. |
| Country |
France Italy |
| Language | French |
Le Boucher (English: The Butcher) is a 1970 French thriller film written and directed by Claude Chabrol. The film had a total of 1,148,554 admissions in France. [1]
Plot synopsis
Hélène Daville (Stéphane Audran) is a confident, slightly naïve young teacher who is adored by her pupils at the school where she works and lives. She meets the local butcher, Paul Thomas, called "Popaul" (Jean Yanne), at a wedding ceremony, and they strike up a close but platonic relationship. The film examines how Hélène handles her suspicion of Popaul as a series of women in the small town fall victim to an unknown murderer.
Themes in the film
Chabrol plays on conventionality, as it is represented in film. The distinctions between murderer and victim are at times blurred. The ideal small community that Chabrol establishes seems to mirror so many others and the characters he uses represent the eroding authenticity that is characteristic in films which seek to capture an “old world feel.” Popaul comes across as an innocent, laid-back, simple butcher, who mentions his experiences in Algeria and Indochina repeatedly. Hélène is admired in the community for her selfless dedication to children — she forgoes a personal life for servitude. Chabrol hints that these characters are not as they seem. Repression and representation seem to be themes Chabrol works with in the film. In confronting repression and representation as Chabrol does, a character, who seems as altruistic as Hélène, takes on a new connotation. Little does Hélène realise that she is driving Popaul to these acts, leaving him stranded with his demons and self-disgust.[2]
Even before he met Hélène, Popaul was tortured. Towards the end of the film, he delivers a soliloquy that allows the viewer to sympathize with him:
| “ | I have a lot of blood – my blood doesn’t stop flowing. I know about blood. I’ve seen so much blood, blood flowing. … Once, when I was little, I fainted when I saw blood. I noticed the smell of blood – they all smell the same, that of animals and that of men. Some is more red than others, but all have exactly the same smell. | ” |
Cast
- Stéphane Audran as Hélène Daville
- Jean Yanne as Paul Thomas ("Popaul")
- Antonio Passalia as Angelo
- Pascal Ferone as Père Cahrpy
- Mario Beccara as Leon Hamel
- William Guérault as Charles
- Roger Rudel as Police Inspector Grumbach
References
- ↑ JP (1970-02-27). "Le Boucher (1970)". JPBox-Office. Retrieved 2016-10-14.
- ↑ "Le Boucher (1969) Cannon, Damien. 1997". Film.u-net.com. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
External links
- Le Boucher at the Internet Movie Database
- Le Boucher at AllMovie