1) L’Enfer (1994) is a sizzler, a vivid artistic thriller from Claude Chabrol derived from a script written years ago by French filmmaker Henri-Georges Clouzot.  How nimble the directing and editing are!  Note the sequence in which Francois Cluzot shadows Emmanuelle Beart on a trip to town one day—among the crowds, the shops,etc.—to see whether she meets a lover.  Note the sweet and attractive husband-and-wife reconciliation scenes.

2) Leave it to Chabrol, so fond of women, to present us with a female character both beautiful and an ideal wife.  Beart plays her with perfect spunk and pathos.

(In French with English subtitles)

Cover of L’Enfer