Red-Barracuda An overbearing wheelchair bound woman and her postman son are threatened by a group of amoral businessmen from the local village who want their property for a lucrative development project. The mother gets her son to bring in the mail pertaining to these men and steams open their letters in order to keep abreast of their plans. Meanwhile, a couple of suspicious deaths follow and a police inspector with questionable methods gets involved, attempting to solve the crime.This 80's Claude Chabrol murder-mystery is not one that I would describe as occupying the upper bracket of his work. Its plot-line has quite a few things happening in it but it consequently doesn't have the focus of his best work. It still follows the basic template he often seems to follow in that its story is underpinned by a crime but the real focus of attention seems to be on the weaknesses and character defects of its cast. This one is no different but doesn't have as interesting dynamics between its characters as usual. Chabrol's wife and regular actress Stephane Audran appears as the wheelchair-bound mother. She was often the best thing about the movies she appeared in but here her character is somewhat unappealing and she is never the main focus in any case. The setting is pure Chabrol though, small-town rural France with the typical pastel colour scheme to match. The mystery itself is serviceable enough and the various plot strands do ensure there is enough going on but this is not top drawer Chabrol for me.

writers_reign Let's be honest I have enjoyed a couple of Chabrol films over the years though I would never accuse him of being in the same league as the really GREAT French film makers, the Carnes, Duviviers, Feyders, and even the second eleven like Albert Valentin, Pierre Chenal and the like could eclipse him on their day and for me, I'm afraid, this is definitely minor league. I am, of course, quite happy as an Englishman, to concede that it's more than possible that some of the fun Chabrol delights in poking at French bourgeoisie eludes me but he has a nice line in muted, pastel camera-work and more often than not he employs actors who can hit their marks and chew gum at the same time so that once in about half a dozen films the Law of Averages kicks in and he comes up with a half decent movie. This one has the feel it was about number three or four after the last decent entry but to be fair he was lumbered - or maybe saddled himself - with Lucas Belvaux in a prominent role and after watching the inept Belvaux stumbling and fumbling his way through the film like a blind man attempting to ascend a spiral staircase after downing a fifth of White Lightnin' it's easy to see why he turned to directing. See it by all means if you're a Chabrol completist but don't say I didn't warn you.

zetes I've seen two of Chabrol's earlier, more famous films, Le boucher and Les biches (The Butcher and The Does respectively), and, honestly, they did little for me. I've been meaning to seek out more since he passed away last September, and I finally got to one here.And I liked it. Quite a bit. Chabrol's genre of choice is the murder mystery, and, from what I've seen, they're kind of subtle, scaled-back ones. Cop au vin involves a small town beset by murders and disappearances. Kindly-seeming police detective Jean Poiret shows up in town and begins to unravel the mystery. What's particularly good about this film is that we, at first, suspect Poiret is pure business. He's neatly dressed, seems nice, but also smart enough to figure out what's going on. Frankly, what I was expecting was a French version of Matlock when he showed up. But then Poiret begins revealing his true colors, and we find out his nice guy appearance is just a facade. This is the type of guy who thinks nothing of beating the crap out of anyone he suspects might be lying. And I certainly am not the type to think that's cool. We're meant not to like him very much. It's kind of a neat reversal of expectations.Thankfully, Poiret is not really the center of the movie. Lucas Belvaux plays a sweet, kind of dumb postal worker who lives with his domineering, crippled mother (Stéphane Audran, Chabrol's ex-wife and frequent star). Their dilapidated mansion is the center of a real estate conspiracy which is connected to the murders. Adorable Pauline Lafont plays Belvaux's nutty co-worker with whom he begins a relationship.Poiret's character, Inspector Jean Lavardin, got his own sequel the next year, and a television series a couple of years later.

Bob Taylor Poiret worked with Michel Serrault on several films, and wrote the script for La cage aux folles, one of the most successful French films of all time. He's a veteran in the industry, so Chabrol must have figured Poiret could improve the box-office figures for this tight little noir. Here again, Chabrol is condemning the provincial bourgeoisie for all the venality and murderous lust they're capable of.Poiret doesn't disappoint. He's very rough with some slimy characters in this small town; it's fun to watch him dunking the lawyer's face in the sink full of water as he cheerily goes through the interrogation. He's a lot more fun to watch than Clint Eastwood ever was. The expression "pince-sans-rire" could have been invented to describe this actor.