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Review
L’Oeil du malin is one of the earliest and best examples of the ironic suspense
thriller for which Claude Chabrol is best known. It contains all the ingredients
of a Chabrolesque thriller, including a relentless, lurking sense of menace, a fragile
bourgeois setting, a mounting drama which builds to an inescapable tragic resolution and,
naturally, a creepy musical score. Although the film is definitively Chabrol
from start to finish, it pays more than a passing homage to the work of that other master
of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.
What marks this film out as a particularly noteworthy entry in the enormous Chabrol canon are the quality of the acting performances, particularly the three lead actors. Excellently supported by Stéphane Audran and Walter Reyer, Jacques Charrier is perfect as the malicious young journalist Mercier. Mercier is a typical Chabrol creation, the menacing predator who intentionally triggers a devastating denouement, yet who is incapable of rationalising his own actions. Through a cleverly constructed series of voice-overs, we are able to eavesdrop on Mercier’s thoughts, allowing us to look into a deeply troubled and dangerous mind. Mercier emerges as the victim of his own wicked machinations, a naive, incomprehending instrument of fate. The film benefits greatly from Chabrol’s characteristically voyeuristic photography (supplemented with jump cuts, an innovation used extensively by the New Wave directors). This intrusive style of photography reflects Mercier’s obsessive attempts to break into the life of the Hartman couple and then into Hélène’s secret double life. Some of the scenes are troubling, creating a sense of impending disaster which, inevitably, is how the film ends. Although the film was very badly received on its initial release in France, L’Oeil du malin is regarded today as one of Chabrol’s best thrillers, and also a good example of Nouvelle Vague cinema of the 1960s. © James Travers 2000 Write a review for this film...User Comments
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Director:
Claude Chabrol
Starring: Jacques Charrier, Stéphane Audran, Walter Reyer, Erika Tweer, Michael Münzer Synopsis
Albin Mercier, a French journalist, is sent to Bavaria to write an article about life
in Germany. He is befriended by a bourgeois couple, the writer Andreas Hartman and
his wife Hélène, who live near to him. The Hartmans appear to be perfectly
happy together, and they seem to enjoy Mercier’s company. Mercier, however,
resents their happiness and determines to take the place of Andreas…
Credits
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