THE BUTCHER
Claude Chabrol’s 1970 jewel of a thriller about a butcher, a schoolteacher and a murder gets a 4K remastering. Chabrol enters ‘Hitchcock’ territory in this masterful film.
At a wedding in a quiet rural French village, school headmistress Helene (Stéphane Audran) meets local butcher Popaul (Jean Yanne), whose boyish charm draws her out of her shell. But shortly after their relationship begins, a string of murders surrounds the village, and, when Helene recognizes an item she had given Popaul near one of the crime scenes, she begins to suspect he may be the murderer. This is Chabrol at his best, spinning an eerie psychological thriller, whose likable characters and the nostalgic village they live in are painted with a master’s elegant brushstrokes. (Subtitles)
France 1970 Claude Chabrol 93m
