Claude Chabrol

Claude Henri Jean Chabrol (; 24 June 1930 – 12 September 2010) was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave (nouvelle vague) group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues and contemporaries Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Éric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette, Chabrol was a critic for the influential film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma before beginning his career as a filmmaker.

His feature debut, Le Beau Serge (1958), was inspired by Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943). Thrillers became a trademark for Chabrol, with an approach characterized by a distanced objectivity. This is especially apparent in Les Biches (1968), La Femme infidèle (1969), and Le Boucher (1970) – all featuring Stéphane Audran, who was his wife at the time.

Sometimes characterized as a "mainstream" nouvelle vague filmmaker, Chabrol remained prolific and popular throughout his half-century career. In 1978, he cast Isabelle Huppert as the lead in Violette Nozière. On the strength of that effort, the pair went on to others including the successful Madame Bovary (1991) and La Cérémonie (1995). Film critic John Russell Taylor has stated that "there are few directors whose films are more difficult to explain or evoke on paper, if only because so much of the overall effect turns on Chabrol's sheer hedonistic relish for the medium...Some of his films become almost private jokes, made to amuse himself." James Monaco has called Chabrol "the craftsman par excellence of the New Wave, and his variations upon a theme give us an understanding of the explicitness and precision of the language of the film that we don't get from the more varied experiments in genre of Truffaut or Godard."

Life and career

Early life Claude Henri Jean Chabrol was born on 24 June 1930 to Yves Chabrol and Madeleine Delarbre in Paris and grew up in Sardent, France, a village in the region of Creuse 400 km (240 miles) south of Paris. Chabrol said that he always thought of himself as a country person, and never as a Parisian. Both Chabrol's father and grandfather had been pharmacists, and Chabrol was expected to follow in the family business. But as a child, Chabrol was "seized by the demon of cinema" and ran a film club in a barn in Sardent between the ages of 12 and 14. and literature at the Sorbonne, where he received a licence en lettres. Some biographies also state that he briefly studied law and political science at the École Libre des Sciences Politiques. After he was discharged from the army, he joined his friends as a staff writer for Cahiers du Cinéma, who were challenging then-contemporary French films and championing the concept of Auteur theory. As a film critic, Chabrol advocated realism both morally and aesthetically, mise-en-scene, and deep focus cinematography, which he wrote "brings the spectator in closer with the image" and encourages "both a more active mental attitude on the part of the spectator and a more positive contribution on his part to the action in progress."

In 1955 Chabrol was briefly employed as a publicity man at the French offices of 20th Century Fox, but was told that he was "the worst press officer they'd ever seen" and was replaced by Jean-Luc Godard, who they said was even worse. In 1956 he helped finance Jacques Rivette's short film Le coup du berger, and later helped finance Rohmer's short Véronique et son cancre in 1958. Unlike all of his future New Wave contemporaries, Chabrol never made short film nor did he work as an assistant on other directors' work before making his feature film debut. In 1957 Chabrol and Eric Rohmer co-wrote Hitchcock (Paris: Éditions Universitaires, 1957), a study of the films made by director Alfred Hitchcock through the film The Wrong Man.

1957–1967: Early film career The most prolific of the major New Wave directors, Chabrol averaged almost one film a year from 1958 until his death. His early films (roughly 1958–1963) are usually categorized as part of the New Wave and generally have the experimental qualities associated with the movement; while his later early films are usually categorized as being intentionally commercial and far less experimental. In the mid-sixties it was difficult for Chabrol to obtain financing for films so he made a series of commercial "potboilers" and spy spoofs, which none of the other New Wave filmmakers did.

Chabrol had married Agnès Goute in 1952 and in 1957 his wife inherited a large sum of money from relatives. In December of that year Chabrol used the money to make his feature directorial debut with Le Beau Serge. The film starred Jean-Claude Brialy as François and Gérard Blain as Serge, two childhood friends reunited when the recent medical school graduate François returns to Sardent and discovers that Serge has become an alcoholic after the stillbirth of his physically retarded first child. Despite suffering from tuberculosis, François drags Serge through a snowstorm to witness the birth of his second child, thus giving Serge a reason to live while killing himself in the process. Le Beau Serge is considered the inaugural film of the French New Wave Film movement that would peak between 1959 and 1962. Chabrol was the first of his friends to complete a feature film (although Jacques Rivette had already begun filming his first feature Paris nous appartient), and it immediately received critical praise and was a box office success. It won the Grand Prix at the Locarno Film Festival and the Prix Jean Vigo. Critics noticed similarities to Hitchcock's films, such as the motifs of doubling and re-occurrences and the "Catholic guilt transference" that Chabrol had also written about extensively in his and Rohmer's book the year earlier. Chabrol stated that he made the film as a "farewell to Catholicism", and many critics have called his first film vastly different from any of his subsequent films. More so than his first film, Les Cousins features many characteristics that would be seen as "Chabrolian", including the Hitchcock influence, a depiction of the French bourgeoisie, characters with ambiguous motives and a murder. It was also Chabrol's first film co-written with his longtime collaborator Paul Gégauff, of whom Chabrol once said "when I want cruelty, I go off and look for Gégauff. Paul is very good at gingering things up...He can make a character look absolutely ridiculous and hateful in two seconds flat." Les Cousins was another box office success in France and won the Golden Bear at the 9th Berlin International Film Festival. Although she had appeared in supporting roles in several Chabrol films before, The Third Lover was the first Chabrol film in which Stéphane Audran appeared as the female lead. They later married in 1964 and worked together until the late 1970s. In 1965 Chabrol also contributed to the New Wave portmanteau film Six in Paris with the segment "La Muette". Chabrol co-starred with Stéphane Audran as a middle aged couple dealing with their rebellious teenage daughter. In 1964 Chabrol also directed a stage production of MacBeth for the Théâtre Récamier. Chabrol often worked with the same people during this period including actors Audran and Michel Bouquet, cinematographer Jean Rabier, editor Jacques Gaillard, sound technician Guy Chichignoud, composer Pierre Jansen, set designer Guy Littaye, as well as producer Génovés and co-writer Paul Gégauff.

Chabrol took a slight change of pace with his 1973 film Wedding in Blood (Les Noces rouges) by making his first film with political themes. The film stars Audran and Michel Piccoli as lovers who plot to murder Audran's husband, who is the corrupt gaullist mayor of their town. To their surprise the President of France orders that no investigation be made of the mayor's death, leading the murdering couple to suspect political interest in their crime. Chabrol followed this political theme with Nada, in which a group of young anarchists kidnap an American ambassador. It was Chabrol's first film to not center on the bourgeois since Le Beau Serge. Chabrol returned to more familiar ground in 1975 with A piece of pleasure (Une partie de plaisir). In this film screenwriter Paul Gégauff plays a writer with a troubled marriage that ends in tragedy. (In 1983, Gégauff was stabbed to death in real life by his second wife.) Gégauff's wife is played by his real-life first wife Danièle Gégauff (already divorced when this film was made) and his daughter is played by real life daughter Clemence Gégauff. The film received poor critical reviews, with Richard Roud calling it "rather interestingly loathsome." and 37th Berlin International Film Festival respectively. Madame Bovary (1991) was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. It was also entered into the 17th Moscow International Film Festival. La Cérémonie (1995) is perhaps his most acclaimed film from this period, as it was nominated for numerous César Awards and was entered into the 52nd Venice International Film Festival among other. His 1999 film The Color of Lies was entered into the 49th Berlin International Film Festival.

In 1995 Chabrol was awarded the Prix René Clair from the Académie française for his body of work.

Chabrol continued directing films and TV series well into the 2000s.

Personal life

Chabrol's first marriage to Agnès Goute (1956–1962) produced a son, Matthieu Chabrol, a composer who scored most of his father's films from the early 1980s. He divorced Agnès to marry the actress Stéphane Audran, with whom he had a son, actor Thomas Chabrol. They remained married from 1964 to 1978. His third wife was Aurore Paquiss, who has been a script supervisor since the 1950s. He had four children. Chabrol was a known gourmet chef and shot 10 Days Wonder in Alsace only because he wanted to visit its restaurants. Although he acknowledges the influence of Alfred Hitchcock in his work, Chabrol has stated that "others have influenced me more. My three greatest influences were Murnau, the great silent film director...Ernst Lubitsch and Fritz Lang." He is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in north-eastern Paris.

Filmography

As director

As actor

1956: La Sonate à Kreutzer (by Éric Rohmer) 1958: Le Beau Serge (by Claude Chabrol) – La Truffe 1959: Web of Passion (by Claude Chabrol) – Passerby (uncredited) 1960: Les Bonnes Femmes (by Claude Chabrol) – Un nageur à la piscine (uncredited) 1960: Les Jeux de l'amour (by Philippe de Broca) – Le forain 1960: Trapped by Fear (by Jacques Dupont) – Invité à la soirée (uncredited) 1961: Wise Guys (by Claude Chabrol) – Un consommateur (uncredited) 1961: Saint Tropez Blues (by Marcel Moussy) – Le réalisateur empruntant des propos de Pierre Kast 1961: Les menteurs (by Edmond T. Gréville) – Le réceptionniste de l'hôtel (uncredited) 1961: Paris Belongs to Us (by Jacques Rivette) – Un homme à la party (uncredited) 1962: Les Ennemis (by Édouard Molinaro) – Le moniteur de gymnastique (uncredited) 1962: The Seven Deadly Sins (by various directors) – Le pharmacien (segment "Avarice, L'") (uncredited) 1962: The Third Lover (by Claude Chabrol) – Man in peep show (uncredited) 1964: Les durs à cuire ou Comment supprimer son prochain sans perdre l'appétit (by Jacques Pinoteau) – Le psychiatre 1965: Six in Paris (by various directors) – The father (segment "La Muette") 1965: Marie-Chantal contre le docteur Kha (by Claude Chabrol) – Customer complaining of his fruit juice 1965: Our Agent Tiger (by Claude Chabrol) – Le médecin radiologue (uncredited) 1966: Brigitte et Brigitte (by Luc Moullet) – Le cousin obsédé de Petite Brigitte 1967: La route de Corinthe (by Claude Chabrol) – Alcibiades (uncredited) 1968: La Petite Vertu (by Serge Korber) – Le client du club 22 / Man at the bar in the night club (uncredited) 1968: Les Biches (by Claude Chabrol) – Filmmaker (uncredited) 1970: La Rupture (by Claude Chabrol) – Un passager dans le tramway (uncredited) 1970: Sortie de secours (by Roger Kahane) 1971: Aussi loin que l'amour (by Frédéric Rossif) – L'homme au poteau (uncredited) 1972: Un meurtre est un meurtre (by Étienne Périer) – Le contrôleur des wagons-lits / Railway Guard 1974: Le permis de conduire (by Jean Girault) – Le réceptionniste de l'hôtel (uncredited) 1974: La Bonne Nouvelle (Short, by André Weinfeld) – Le curé / The Priest 1976: Folies bourgeoises (by Claude Chabrol) – Le client chez l'éditeur (uncredited) 1977: Animal (by Claude Zidi) – Le metteur en scène 1978: Violette Nozière (by Claude Chabrol) – Récitant du commentaire final (uncredited) 1981: Les folies d'Élodie (by André Génovès) – Un invité au vernissage 1984: Thieves After Dark (by Samuel Fuller) – Louis Crépin dit :Tartuffe 1984: Polar (by Jacques Bral) – Théodore Lyssenko 1986: Suivez mon regard (by Jean Curtelin) – Le téléphage 1986: Je hais les acteurs (by Gérard Krawczyk) – Lieberman 1987: Sale destin (by Sylvain Madigan) – Le commissaire 1987: Jeux d'artifices (by Virginie Thévenet) – Le père de Jacques 1987: L'été en pente douce (by Gérard Krawczyk) – The priest 1988: Alouette, je te plumerai (by Pierre Zucca) – Pierre Vergne 1992: Sam suffit (by Virginie Thévenet) – M. Denis 1997: Rien ne va plus (by Claude Chabrol) – Le croupier (voice, uncredited) 1999: The Color of Lies (by Claude Chabrol) – Emmanuel Solar (voice, uncredited) 2006: Avida (by Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern) – Le zoophile débonnaire 2008: Lucifer et moi (by Jean-Jacques Grand-Jouan) – L'homme de la rue 2010: Gainsbourg, vie héroïque (by Joann Sfar) – Le Producteur Musique de Gainsbourg 2012: Le Jour des corneilles (by Jean-Christophe Dessaint) – Le docteur (voice) 2018: The Other Side of the Wind (by Orson Welles) – Himself (final film role) (Filmed between 1970 and 1976)

TV work Histoires insolites (1974), 5 episodes Nouvelles de Henry James (1974), 2 episodes – based on stories by Henry James Il était un musicien (1978), 3 episodes (1978), 1 episode "Jeunesse et Spiritualité" Cyprien Katsaris (1979) Official site (1980), 2 episodes – Remake of Fantômas Le système du docteur Goudron et du professeur Plume (1981) – based on The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether by Edgar Allan Poe (1982) – based on Elective Affinities by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe M. le maudit (1982, short) La danse de mort (1982) – based on The Dance of Death by August Strindberg Les dossiers secrets de l'inspecteur Lavardin (1988), 2 episodes Les redoutables (2001), 1 episode Chez Maupassant (2007), 2 episodes – based on stories by Guy de Maupassant Au siècle de Maupassant: Contes et nouvelles du XIXème siècle (2010), 2 episodes