Ava-Grace Willis
Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
Tayyab Torres
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
Edwin
The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
antoniocasaca123
Very good film, one of the last of Claude Chabrol, with excellent performances by Emmanuelle Beart and Francois Cluzet. Although not the best film of Chabrol, it is one of the most competent (and disconcerting) films to deal with the subject of sick and obsessive jealousy. Merit also for the end of the film and for the fact that we will never be shown if the woman is unfaithful or not.Originally written by screenwriter and director Henri Georges Clouzot, "l'enfer", years later he had his rights sold by his widow to a producer who offered him to Claude Chabrol. His plot revolves around Paul Prieur, a man possessed by a sick jealousy of his wife.No doubt this is a fascinating study that shows how one's insecurities can affect, in addition to his own life, those of all who find themselves around him.Although considered as one of the great filmmakers of French cinema, this film is not considered among the best achievements of Chabrol, such as "le beau serge", "les cousins", "une affaire de femmes", "la ceremonie" , among others.
morrison-dylan-fan
After watching the spectacular first Mission Impossible movie again recently,I decided to check Emmanuelle Béart's other credits.Discovering on Amazon UK and her IMDb page that 90% of Béart's credits were French flicks,I was taken aback,when I spotted a Neo- Noir (for £3) that looked liked the ultimate French 90's Noir,with the credits revealing that Béart was joining auteur film maker Claude Chabrol-and a screenplay from Henri-Georges Clouzot!,which led to me excitingly getting ready to jump into this Noir hell.The plot:Repairing an inn, Paul Prieur meets Nelly.Soon falling for each other, Prieur and Nelly soon get married and have a child. Initially living together in married bliss, Prieur starts to get anxious at every man who gives Nelly the smallest glance.Ignoring her explanations, Prieur begins secretly following Nelly on her daily routine.Catching his wife (possibly) being flirty, Prieur begins imagining the erotic acts that Nelly has performed with other men,which leads to the line between fantasy and reality in Prieur's mind crumbling away,as he and Nelly enter a pit of hell.View on the film:Lit up from the screenplay of Henri-Georges Clouzot's unfinished film, Chabrol (with additional dialogue from José-André Lacour) unleashes a Neo-Noir that is a perfect tribute to Clouzot,and also one whose themes allow the title to proudly stand on its own feet.Caught in a whirlwind romance, Chabrol gives the early days of Nelly and Prieur a bourgeoisie dream giving them a "perfect" image to the outside world.Twisting the knife into Neo-Noir,Clouzot and Chabrol display an extraordinary attention to detail for Prieur's lock into a Neo-Noir world,by making the slightest attempt Nelly makes to place a gap between them,lead to Prieur blurring the lines between his deeply troubling Neo-Noir "fantasies" in his mind,with the burning hell that he is shoving himself and Nelly in.Presenting their marriage in fluid camera moves, Chabrol & cinematographer Bernard Zitzermann chip away at the light with brittle Neo-Noir darkness,via caving in the light colours with unrelenting shadows engulfing their lives. Dipping into Prieur's fractured mind, Chabrol grabs the neck of Prieur,via casting shimming shadows round Prieur's throat,that are lit up by Monique Fardoulis's razor sharp editing twisting and turning the murky nightmares and realities of Prieur and Nelly.Becoming entwined with Prieur looking ravishingly beautiful, Emmanuelle Béart gives an immaculate performance as Nelly,whose care-free nature Béart makes shine,which is brilliantly turned into a shell shocked soul who cant find an escape from the Neo-Noir pit.Entering the title looking like a gentlemen, François Cluzet gives a magnificent performance as Prieur.Starting with a nervous grin, Cluzet subtly pulls the veins out of Prieur's anxiety and suspicions across the screen and circles them round the decayed relationship,as Prieur and Nelly enter Chabrol's and Clouzot's inferno.
gridoon2018
Not a pleasant film to watch, and it does get a little repetitive by the end, but still a masterful psychological thriller that attempts, and largely succeeds at, the not so easy task of entering into a man's brain and showing us how it operates: how he confuses fantasy with reality, how in brief moments of mental clarity he can realize what's happening to him but he is unable to control it, etc. For Claude Chabrol, the essence of insane jealousy seems to be that you stop seeing your partner as a person and you start seeing them as your property. The movie visually progresses according to the story: open, sunny and idyllic at the start, dark, stormy and claustrophobic at the end. Both Cluzet and Beart give career-defining performances. See "L'Enfer" when you're in the mood for something more than simple "entertainment". *** out of 4.
mvaillan
Lots of sequence of imagination. The more the movie goes on, the more I got lost between what was real and what was not.Maybe that's the purpose, that the spectator becomes lost. But too much is too much.
