a others have note and chabrol be masterful in set a tone of uneasy suspense . a the movie progress and we gradually shift to the edge of our seat and figuratively at least . but be something else go on here as well . spoilersroger ebert review prompt me to have another look at helene a she appear at the hospital at the very end . he right and there be something in her look there that be very different from concern or sadness while i would say it be the look of triumph . helene and you will recall and once have a lover and but he leave her a decade ago . she claim not to have form any attachment since . if true and it appear she have never fully recover from be discard . just a popaul have be traumatize by his time in the army and she appear to have be permanently scar by this event in her past . yet she clearly show interest in popaul . invite him up to her flat to cook a leg of lamb he have bring her and ask him to go mushroom hunting and give him a birthday gift . so what give . a i read it and helene game be to attract men and get them to make an emotional investment and then dump them before she can be dump whether out of fear of be abandon again herself and or a twisted revenge on men in general and or for some other reason . this would explain the triumph and satisfaction on her face at the hospital represent popaul have just give her the most abject confession of love and and even obsession and conceivable . she have ( once again . ) emerge victorious and unscathed . she have claim a victim perhaps another in a series . a such and she be no less a predator than he be and and for parallel reason . perhaps all this be too cynical . perhaps i be read too much into her behavior . but look closely at her expression a they wheel popaul away on the gurney and and you will have to admit that she be no cliched innocent victim ( or near victim ) . something else be at work here .