The Unfaithful Wife

Director: Claude Chabrol Claude Chabrol

Overview

"Claude Chabrol directed this thriller of a woman tempted into an affair, which was the basis for American hit Unfaithful. La Femme Infidèle (aka The Unfaithful Wife) has been given a full-screen transfer at the aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and the audio has been mastered in Dolby Digital Stereo. The dialogue is in French, with optional English-language subtitles. As a bonus, this edition includes the film's original trailer, as well as cast and crew biographies."

Product Details

Release Date:	01/21/2003
UPC:	0825307904598
Original Release:	1968
Rating:	NR
Source:	Pathfinder Home Ent.
Language:	English
Time:	1:34:00
Sales rank:	25,882

Special Features

Interactive menus; Scene access; Filmographies; Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Michel Bouquet	Charles
Stephane Audran	Helene
Maurice Ronet	Victor
Michel Duchaussoy	Police Officer Duval
Serge Bento	Bignon
Guy Marly	Police Officer Gobet
Stephane Di Napoli	Actor
Louise Chevalier	Maid
Louise Rioton	Actor
Henri Marteau	Paul
Francois Moro-Giafferi	Actor
Dominique Zardi	Truck driver
Michel Charrel	Policeman
Henri Attal	Man in cafe
Jean-Marie Arnoux	Flase Witness
Donatella Turri	Actor
Pierre Jansen	Composer

Technical Credits

Claude Chabrol

Claude Chabrol	Director,Screenwriter
Andre Genoves	Producer
André Genovès	Producer

Editorial Reviews

His many adherents regularly dub Chabrol "the French Hitchcock", and while it is a convenient way of reducing his work to its bare essentials, there are many differences between the two artists. While Chabrol deals in suspense, Hitchcock, particularly in his last films, revealed a deep streak of cruelty and misogyny that undercuts such films as Marnie (1964), The Birds (1963), and especially Frenzy (1972). Chabrol was more circumspect about such matters, and embraced a wider set of concerns in his films, making them much more universal in their appeal, and lasting in their social commentary. La Femme Infidèle is a tale of passion and adultery, but done with a much more distanced and ironic air than is typical of Hitchcock. Charles Desvallées (Michel Bouquet) discovers that his wife, Hélène (Stéphane Audran), is cheating on him. Methodically, he hires a private detective to have her followed, and discovers her lover's identity: he is Victor Pegala (Maurice Ronet), a writer. Driving to Pegala's apartment, Charles calmly introduces himself as Hélène's husband, and then kills Pegala with off-handed diffidence. The subsequent police investigation takes numerous and twists and turns, as is typical for Chabrol. But what interests the director here primarily is not the police inquiries, or even the moral questions surrounding Charles' guilt. What, Chabrol asks, will be Hélène's response to the crime? In the final analysis, Chabrol's film is more interested in matters of the heart than in questions of guilt or innocence, and becomes a psychological investigation of the situation surrounding the murder, rather than a typical policier. Born in 1930, Chabrol is remarkably prolific, with nearly 70 films to his credit, and at this writing still actively producing films, which are at once both commercially, and aesthetically satisfying. La Femme Infidèle is one of Chabrol's key early films, and a superb introduction to the work a master filmmaker who is interested not so much in suspense, but rather in the hearts and minds of those who inhabit his morally ambiguous universe.