This is a mildly interesting film that features two famous American actors (Welles and Perkins) along with a French/Italian cast. For some odd reason, the DVD I watched from Pathfinder Home Entertainment did not have working subtitles--the feature was on the DVD but no subtitles appeared. But, considering the film was done in English, it didn't matter.
Anthony Perkins plays completely against type. In this movie, he is at times mentally imbalanced,....oh, wait,...that's pretty much what he seems to play in MOST of his movies. Well, at least this time, the hysterical performance by Perkins is described as being the result of being fed drugs by his adopted father.
Orsen Welles plays a manipulative fat old rich guy. And I had no particular complaints about his acting. However, one odd little thing bothered me. During the first portion of the movie in particular, his makeup appeared to be all over his face EXCEPT around the nose--which was an obviously different, brownish kind of color--like he had a fake nose or it was necrotic or something. This did not play into the plot at all and I assume it was just the result of bad makeup. Or, maybe he was inspired by the character from CANDIDE, Dr. Pangloss.
Marlène Jobert plays Welles' incredibly young wife. She seemed okay in the part.
Michel Piccoli played the guy pulled into the middle of this weird family affair (in more ways than one) and probably came off the best for his acting.
The plot is a weird twist on breaking the 10 Commandments. Over the course of the film, Perkins is manipulated into breaking all 10 by his nutty adoptive father. This reminded me very much of a contemporary film with a similar plot--THE ABOMNIBLE DR. PHIBES. However, despite PHIBES being a silly horror flick, I think I enjoyed watching it a lot more than this Chabrol film. The film, while not bad, is very difficult to believe and the acting, at times, is a bit over-the-top--especially from Perkins. You could do worse than watch the film but when there are so many better French films, why not watch them first?
Anthony Perkins plays completely against type. In this movie, he is at times mentally imbalanced,....oh, wait,...that's pretty much what he seems to play in MOST of his movies. Well, at least this time, the hysterical performance by Perkins is described as being the result of being fed drugs by his adopted father.
Orsen Welles plays a manipulative fat old rich guy. And I had no particular complaints about his acting. However, one odd little thing bothered me. During the first portion of the movie in particular, his makeup appeared to be all over his face EXCEPT around the nose--which was an obviously different, brownish kind of color--like he had a fake nose or it was necrotic or something. This did not play into the plot at all and I assume it was just the result of bad makeup. Or, maybe he was inspired by the character from CANDIDE, Dr. Pangloss.
Marlène Jobert plays Welles' incredibly young wife. She seemed okay in the part.
Michel Piccoli played the guy pulled into the middle of this weird family affair (in more ways than one) and probably came off the best for his acting.
The plot is a weird twist on breaking the 10 Commandments. Over the course of the film, Perkins is manipulated into breaking all 10 by his nutty adoptive father. This reminded me very much of a contemporary film with a similar plot--THE ABOMNIBLE DR. PHIBES. However, despite PHIBES being a silly horror flick, I think I enjoyed watching it a lot more than this Chabrol film. The film, while not bad, is very difficult to believe and the acting, at times, is a bit over-the-top--especially from Perkins. You could do worse than watch the film but when there are so many better French films, why not watch them first?