© 2008 William Ahearn
Dark stories can be told in broad daylight and Claude Chabrol’s 1970 “Le Boucher (The Butcher)” is a perfect example. Photographed by Jean Rabier – whose work includes such diverse films as Agnes Varda’s “Cleo From 5 to 7” and Jacques Demmy’s “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” – uses almost understated cinematography to bring out this story in a new way. His first film was also Chabrol’s first film, “Le Beau Serge” that may or may not have launched the French New Wave, depending on who is asked. Chabrol would move away from his new wave roots and isn’t as associated with the movement as Jean Luc Godard or Francois Truffaut. He just, it seems, wanted to make movies.
The story of “Le Boucher” is simple and Chabrol tells it with the economy of Georges Simenon. A psychically damaged veteran who fought in Algeria and Indochina meets a young and emotionally damaged school headmistress in a small town in France. Someone is slashing and killing young women in the area around the town. There is nothing else about the plot that I’ll divulge because this is a fabulous film and its treatment of the subject is so radically different that it just needs to be seen.
This could be just another film with the serial killer as metaphor but it isn’t a film about killers and victims; it’s a film about damaged people and the story is told without a single cliché. For a film about murder and suspense, there isn’t a whisper from Alfred Hitchcock or Fritz Lang or any other cinematic reference. There is a no graphic violence in this film and it is far more powerful as a result.
This isn’t a great serial killer movie; it’s just a great film.
For a list of French serial killers, go here.