I wanted to see this as it was reportedly the only adaptation of a Ruth Rendall novel 'A Judgement in Stone' that she approved. (Chabrol adapted it with Caroline Eliacheff), And it's quite shocking.
As usual we're in an isolated house in the country near a small village. (Are any Chabrols set in a city?) A slightly strange lady, Sandrine Bonnaire, is employed as a maid by Jacqueline Bisset to look after her husband (Jean-Pierre Cassel), step daughter (Virginie Ledoyen) and son (Valentin Merlet). The family are quite good to her, really, particularly the daughter, but her path crosses with wilful and rebellious post office worker Isabelle Huppert (a performance of some vigour) who you could argue leads her astray. But they both may have had darker secrets in their pasts. They have funny quirks. Bonnaire keeps saying 'I don't know' to something she should know, like 'Do you like your room?' Huppert seems slightly obsessed in washing her hands.
One interpretation is it's a film about class differences.
The ending - that the murders have accidentally been recorded on tape - is a real doozy, and actually plays out right through to the very end of the credits.
Quite high key lighting by Bernard Zitzermann, incisively edited by Monique Fardoulis.
Murder to opera - is this where Woody took inspiration from?
Bisset's mother was French but she had to learn the language. As far as I can tell she doesn't live in France.
It's quite stunning as well as shocking. Huppert was the only winner of its seven César nominations.
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