Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

disgusting, overrated, pointless

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Director Chabrol takes on the French bourgeois so insidiously, so quietly, so subtly, that you don't realize his cinematic scalpel has just removed several layers of sensitive skin; this family-based thriller shows a woman running for office, examines her philandering husband, and zeroes in on two slightly incestuous slightly related children, all under the care of a quietly smiling, deadly caretaker, who smiles while encouraging the tots to misbehave.The plot, such as it is, could be frustrating if the viewer is looking for any kind of forward action--this is an expose of empty morality, and hardly qualifies as a suspense film (you might even ask--when will this end?), but in considering the gorgeously cinematic interiors (and beach setting) in contrast to the vapid emptiness each character ultimately reveals, this could be a film you like very much; it's typically French in that it tends to look inside rather than outside, examine character development in lieu of action perpetrated by a hero.

Although not immediately likable, the film left an imprint. The director has combined french cinematography-descriptive shots and gradual development-with Hollywood tradition-blatant dialogue and excited drama. The use of dialogue was often unnecessary and the same goals could have been reached through more refined acting, ie. the discussion of schedules or chauffeurs. Although this detracted, the aunt's narration was at times profound -"life is perpetual"-and provided continuity in the story. This idea was also supported by the repetition of the stair shot, seen in the beginning and end. Other ingenious shots included the bouncing head of the father moving up the stairs and the splicing of old and new environments during the aunt's recollections. This is a worthwhile film; it has the momentum of a classic dramatic film with the introspectiveness of a novel.

This is a pleasant film by Claude Chabrol, nothing like the forbidding title "La Fleur du Mal" would suggest. I say pleasant in that there is nothing gross or ugly about it or really shocking, and it ends in a way that most viewers would find agreeable. There is some dark suggestion of family evil and a kind of playful non-incest and some skeletons in the closet from the Nazi occupation and one dead man at the end, but otherwise this is almost a comedy.It is not, however, in my opinion his best work, but is very representative. My favorite Chabrol film is Une affaire de femmes (1988) starring Isabelle Huppert and Francois Cluzet. I also liked La Cérémonie (1995) featuring Sandrine Bonnaire, Isabelle Huppert and Jacqueline Bisset. Both of these are much darker works than The Flower of Evil.As in many Chabrol films this starts slowly but manages to be interesting thanks to some veracious color and characterization blended with a hint of the tension to come. And then, also characteristic of Chabrol, there is a interesting finish.Nathalie Baye plays Anne Charpin-Vasseur, who in her fifties decides to run for mayor. Her philandering husband Gérard (Bernard Le Coq) is not pleased. Benoit Magimel plays the prodigal son Francois Vasseur, just home after four years in the US, while Melanie Doutey plays his non-biological sister Michele. Francois apparently ran away to the States to cool his growing attraction to Michele (to her disappointment). Now on his return their love blooms.This is very much approved of by Aunt Line (played wonderfully well with spry energy by Suzanne Flon who was 85 years old when the film was made). Their affair reminds her of her youth, a mixed blessing since she lived through some horrors.The main plot concerns the opposition that Anne is getting as she runs for mayor. A leaflet accusing the family of collaboration with the Nazis during WWII is distributed that threatens to derail her campaign.See this for one of France's great ladies of both film and the theater, Suzanne Flon, who died last year after a career than spanned five decades.(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

I've seen tons of Chabrol movies ,about 95% of his films and all I can see is that the proportion of duds increases in the years.Even directors deserve retirement! The bourgeoisie dolce vita has been told told and TOLD by CC!Enough!I'm fed up!It's all the more infuriating as earlier works had bite and guts going for them ("que la bete meure" "la rupture" "la femme infidèle" )when it wasn't pure genius ("le boucher").We feel now,and it's the last straw,a discreet charm of the bourgeoisie,he treats his bourgeois indulgently.The actors go from excellent(veteran Suzanne Flon ,in a part not worthy of herself) to passable (Baye is good enough in her " visiting the Poor" scenes,a pale reflection of his predecessor Claude Autant-Lara' s "Douce" (1942))to dismal (Bernard LeCoq,generally relegated to mediocre comedies,Benoit Magimel and his girlfriend -who might not or might be his cousin-) Sign of the times:the gastronomy sequence which you can find in everything CC did ,for the first time is a fiasco:the oysters ,says bourgeois Magimel,are not what they used to be.If it were only the oysters....