Story of Women (Chabrol, 1988): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 5.50pm
This film is part of the Claude Chabrol season at BFI Southbank. The other screenings of the film on October 1st is detailed here.Chicago Reader review:
A bit mislabeled–the French title is Une affaire de femmes, which
translates better as “Women’s Business”–Claude Chabrol’s accomplished
and generally uncharacteristic period film (set in World War II occupied
France), loosely adapted from a nonfiction book by lawyer Francis
Szpiner, gives a plausible and wholly unsentimental account of a
housewife and mother (Isabelle Huppert at her finest) who becomes an
abortionist and winds up being sent to the guillotine for it. Married to
a wounded French soldier (Francois Cluzet) who is initially off in a
POW camp, she doesn’t want to sleep with him after his return, and soon
becomes the family breadwinner–a tough little cookie who’s also helping
other women out. Chabrol’s mise en scene and his handling of the period
and performances are masterful (1988).
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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