Who Knew. A barely recognizable Jacques Dutronc lays some classical piano on Isabelle Huppert in 1979. Move on a quarter of a century and they're at it again in Chabrol's Merci pour le chocolat. Like the man said there's nothing new under the son. Hard to see why this hasn't attracted any comments. Okay, it's SLOW but that's not the same as saying DULL. It's got all kinds of referential touches making it facile to say Checkovian, just for openers then there's the psychological aspects of Chabrol etc. Basically Dutronc was divorced by Huppert some five years before we join them and she has remarried. Dutronc is not a happy bunny. He hires a guy to follow Huppert, lures him into the grounds of Huppert's new gaff, tops him, and frames the new husband. Okay, we've been here before but it's harmless and passes the time painlessly.
2 Reviews
Heavy going
bjacob23 February 2019
What would you do to get rid of your wife's new husband? The protagonist's answer is "quite a lot". The plot is interesting but marred by a certain inability of keeping up the tension, by a slow pace and by unremarkable performance of the protagonists, all in "ohh" and "ahh" but without the depth required by their supposed turmoil. Bruno Ganz does hovewer an excellent job of his modest part of decent man witnessing the unthinkable. Also, the atmosphere is pleasantly gothic.
Georges Perec worked on the dialogues. Given the talent involved, this film could / should have been better. It remains watchable, but not much more.
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