Magimel in the Art Films of Chabrol, Part 3: The Flower of Evil

Funnily, The Flower of Evil (La Fleur du mal, 2003) was the first Chabrol-Magimel film I watched on my 60-inch TV. I streamed two of their collaborations on my laptop.

Thank goodness for the bigger screen this time because the movie tells quite a complicated family mystery. I needed all the little clues magnified.

It starts with the camera passing through a dimly lit house, glancing at a nameless girl curled up at the corner and stops at a blooded dead man.

To solve the crime, we are introduced to the three generations of a prestigious family in a small French town. There is Aunt Line, who bears the horror of her murdered brother’s WWII Nazi connection, as the hands-off but observant benign secrets holder of the family. There are Anne (Aunt Line’s niece) and Gérard who got married after their former spouses died in a car accident together. Busy with their separate lives, she is actively running for mayor while he manages a pharmacy, cheats around and shows a growing contempt for his wife’s political ambitions. And then there is the taboo love affair between the unrelated step siblings François and Michèle. Son of Gérard and daughter of Anne, they have been attracted to each other since teenagers and find themselves still in love after spending some years apart.

The hidden tension behind the seemingly peaceful family is first triggered by the distribution of a malign, anonymous flier that revisits the scandalous murder of Anne’s Nazi-related father. Aimed to harm her mayoral campaign, it recounts the rumor that her father might have been killed by his own wife. Although there is no clear evidence, Gérard is suspected to be the mastermind of the scheme.

As if the man is not evil enough, a drunk Gérard then tries to violate his step daughter and is accidentally killed when Michèle attempts to protect herself with a lamp. Just like that, the family is cursed with a second murder. The matriarch of the family, Aunt Line, is determined to to take the blame for the accident. In her mind, it’s better to contain the stain in her generation than passing it on.

While we see the police cars arriving at the crime scene, it’s never shown what happens next. But that doesn’t seem to matter anymore. We have solved the big mystery shown in the very beginning of the film.

The plot is all too familiar in all of Chabrol’s films: poking fun of the bourgeoisie and their somehow laughable being. It’s such an easy subject for the filmmaker that the movie doesn’t feel too substantial. It flies through the family nuances very carelessly and you have to pay extra attention to link the little hints of past drama together. I cannot tell if the director does it on purpose or if he is just pressing the story on too impatiently.

Although Magimel is charming and handsome as always in the movie, his character is not fully developed. We see François, who just moved back from Chicago days before all the happenings, make fun of the Christian tradition of America, looks down on his slimy father, stifled by the dark family history and smitten with his sweet step sister. But I can’t find a specific word to describe the cynical son, except that he’s a bit of a reluctant victim of it all.

While the film is not a strong thriller or drama, I still kind of enjoyed it. It’s like reading a plain yet candid family diary convoluted enough to keep you interested. I suppose the movie poster, i.e. the family portrait, best summarizes the characters. From far away they are a picture-perfect bunch. In a close range, an ominous cloud of guilt is visible on the youngest generation François and Michèle who will have to carry the secret and burden of two family murders for decades to come.

Ay, what a mess, as Chabrol might say of the funny bourgeoisie.

Image from IMDb.

Magimel in the Art Films of Chabrol, Part 2: The Bridesmaid

Traumatized by A Girl Cut in Two, I was hesitant to watch another movie by Claude Chabrol. But I knew it would be unfair to the acclaimed filmmaker (“and” Benoît Magimel) if I shut his movies out completely.

I decided to give The Bridesmaid (La demoiselle d’honneur, 2004) a try.

Aha! It was not bad at all. It worked well as a quirky, romantic thriller with enough uncertainties and puzzles to lead you on.

The movie followed the eccentric and all-consuming relationship of the hard-working Philippe (Benoît Magimel) and his mysterious girlfriend Senta (Laura Smet). They met at his sister’s wedding where she was one of the bridesmaids, and it was instantly love at first sight. “You’re my destiny and I’m yours,” declared Senta.

On the other hand, Philippe was an overly doting son to his mother. When the sweet woman gave away the sculpture of the Roman goddess Flora he got her to Gérard, a local businessman she was dating at the time, the young man was obviously disturbed. In fact, he secretly stole back the sculpture from Gérard after they broke up and hid it in his room. With a hard-to-explain obsession with the object, Philippe often put Flora by his side as he worked at home. He kissed and talked to the sculpture as if it were a real person. He even mentioned how Flora looked very much like Senta, and eventually offered it to his girlfriend as a gesture of life-long commitment.

Odd and sensual, Senta lived in a dark, stuffy basement of an old house and “claimed” to be an aspiring actress, model and world traveler. She believed that to live life fully, one has to plant a tree, write a poem, make love with a person of the same sex, and kill someone. More importantly, she wanted Philippe to murder a random person to prove his devotion. That was when he candidly confessed he never fully trusted all of her fantasy-like life stories, and disregarded her request.

Senta angrily threw him out of the basement and refused to see him again. To pacify her, Philippe later made up a quick story about him killing the homeless man that used to camp outside her house. She was overjoyed at the news and vowed to do the same for him. While he nervously told her not to reciprocate, the next morning Senta described in details how she just stabbed Gérard in the woods with a glass dagger she bought in Murano. She said the dagger was so sharp that the victim didn’t bleed when dying.

Not sure what to believe, he drove to Gérard’s house to confirm the story and saw the man alive in person. A relieved and elated Philippe decided to marry his bizarre girlfriend, thinking she was simply a superb story teller. However, it was discovered soon that Gérard’s visiting cousin was found dead and the descriptions matched with Senta’s.

Philippe desperately hurried to warn her about local police’s investigations only to realize this was not the first time she murdered someone. She had already killed a girl out of jealousy from her previous relationship, and the dead body was hidden right in a closet of her house.

At the end, Senta asked if Philippe would leave her, he replied, “I’ll never leave you…ever.”

Yup, creepy. The credit then creepily ran over a static shot of Flora, who I felt symbolized obsession. Both Philippe and Senta had an obsessive personality as shown on screen, and they immediately became obsessed with each other for no apparent reasons. Ok, there was probably physical attraction since they were both really good-looking, but in my mind the relatively normal Philippe could have found a relatively normal girl to be with.

However, the two characters were actually perfect for each other — where there is a mystery, there is a mystery seeker. I thought it was pretty clear who was who in the story. Magimel was more than convincing at playing the conscientious son who had always carried family burden on his shoulders. He also painted the tortured, cautious yet love-stricken Philippe with just enough sensitivity. Laura Smet was equally charming as the enigmatic psychopath with her wild stares and irrational philosophy of love.

In an interview, Chabrol complimented Smet’s natural performance and said Magimel was always at his best when he became less conscious of surroundings. To me, Magimel was really genuine throughout and there was not a second of overacting or pretense.

It’s also worth mentioning that the score of the movie composed by Matthieu Chabrol, the director’s son, was beautiful, moody and suspenseful with a nice touch of sadness, especially the opening piece. Some said the music was very Hitchcock-like and I could definitely see the resemblance.

Although the film was in no way a blockbuster, it was enjoyable to watch. And I couldn’t stress more, Magimel was awesome as always.

Image from Wikipedia.