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"The films of Chabrol-who is, paradoxically, both a huge influence on world cinema and a far too little recognized talent-inspire, challenge and provoke his audience. At their finest, they are pure art." -Ernest Hardy, L.A. Weekly
Claude Chabrol, the most profound maker of intellectual thrillers in film history (Le Boucher, Les Biches) tackles a classical Ellery Queen Mystery with his customary fascination for aberrant psychology, moral philosophy and his taste for the subtle observation of flamboyant personalities. The astonishing quartet of actors-Welles, Perkins, Jobert and Piccoli-comprise a gallery of unforgettable characters who exist in Chabrol's own special universe and thematic complexity.
Orson Welles plays an eccentric tycoon who lives in an Alsatian chateau with his young wife (Jobert), whom he has groomed since taking her in as a poor orphaned, and his adopted son (Perkins), a sculptor given to hallucinary fits that cause him to fear he has unknowingly committed murder. Of course Perkins and Jobert are having a passionate affair and being blackmailed, which sets in dizzying motion the complex plot. Piccoli plays the Ellery Queen figure, the rational friend drawn into this bizarre web out of friendship and intellectual curiosity. By the film's end, not one of the Ten Commandments remains unbroken.
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