claude chabrol and the french director of many thriller and drama and other genre and be at his best when subtly but forcefully pull the rug out from the viewer . this isn not your usual case of a romance story criss cross with a serial killer thriller . in fact and be not make very much aware that there be a serial killer save for a few mention here and there until halfway through the movie and and by the time we be it full throttle in a kind of expertly manipulate suspense and not in the usual sense but through an ominous musical score by pierre jansen and a movement of fluidity with the camera that tell the story sort of conventionally but not at the same time . it a small and master class in subvert the genre by make u care so much about the character even a we know theyre doom from the happy opening . that not to say that chabrol have make anything that can not be enjoy by one look for a good entertaining thriller first and foremost . if anything the opening of the movie be what lure one in perfectly and a it a very jovial in this wedding sequence one see guest school teacher helene ( stephane audran and chabrol regular ) and butcher paul ( jean yanne and perfect a the butcher ) and enjoy themselves and make good conversation . this stretch out into the first half of the film while a friendship develops around food that paul bring over and and it only when paul think it time to go the next step that he tell it can not be because of a past horrible relationship that helen face horrible in the sense of disappointment . there a disconnect emotionally that be leave open and thus and go into the second half of the film and where finally we see what some of u would be wait for represent the serial killer plot . there a string of murder involve woman and and one of them the bride from the opening be a shocker not exactly for the revelation itself and per say and but how chabrol build up to it . at first it see a the most suspenseful thing in the film so far a helen lead her class along a mountainside and stop to have lunch . the music be play right here and and it really chill for how simple it lay out the tension and like a weirdo stand across the street in a black cloak act suspicious but and at the same time and too subtle to pin down . this add to the sudden shock and then and after the music stop and finally the reveal happen via blood drip on the kid sandwich . this and however and be just one example of chabrol calm mastery a a director of the material . it would be one thing to go on and on about the eerie absorption of the camera work and which go between conventional stylization ( for a french film of the period ) and poetic editing and framing . or to go on and on about the stunning work turn by audran ( go between an entire emotional palette and a it be and from happy to sob to frighten to pale and shoot to hell ) and yanne ( also great at what he mean to be and our male protagonist and and sadly and eventual antagonist by default ) . but it the emotional struggle that make this compelling above all other good reason to recommend . the butcher posit a relationship that be platonic and naturalistic and and genuinely interest while these aren not cookie cutter character but well drawn and with thing that make them identifiable even a they and early on and seem to go on about trivial thing not relate to the plot ( a little like a woody allen movie ) . then and when it switch gear bit by bit and the paranoia increase and by the time the climax come it become very and ultimately and tragic . chabrol go to lengths to reveal and simply and the soul of a man one should not feel any sympathy for . that one close up in the car ride to the hospital be one of the fine climax i might ever see in a movie from europe and even anywhere . and damn if isn not representative of what chabrol can do a a craftier but no less true to his art member of the cashier du cinema filmmaker club . a plus .