Landru (1963)

Director:

Claude Chabrol

Writer:

Françoise Sagan (writer)

Release Date:

25 January 1963 (France)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

France, WWI. Landru, the father of four Children, contacts Parisian women through newspapers, seduces...

Plot Keywords:

Burned Body | Baudelaire | Family Relationships | Guillotine | Police

Cast

Michèle Morgan	...	Célestine Buisson
Danielle Darrieux	...	Berthe Heon
Hildegard Knef	...	Mme X. / Madame Ixe (as Hildegarde Neff)
Juliette Mayniel	...	Anna, Marie, Angèle Colomb
Stéphane Audran	...	Fernande Segret
Catherine Rouvel	...	Andrée Babelet
Françoise Lugagne	...	Catherine Landru
Mary Marquet	...	Madame Guillin
Denise Provence	...	Madame Laporte
Serge Bento	...	Maurice Landru
Claude Mansard	...	Maître de Moro Gafferi, Landru's defence attorney
Robert Burnier	...	Le président / Presiding judge
Mario David	...	Le procureur / Prosecutor
Jean-Louis Maury	...	Comissaire Belin
Diane Lepvrier	...	Suzanne Landru, Landru's Daughter

Also Known As:

Bluebeard (USA)

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Gambais, Yvelines, France

Company:

Compagnia Cinematografica Champion

Quotes:

Presiding judge: Tell us what you know about Andrée Babelet.

Movie Connections:

Version of Monsieur Verdoux (1947)

Soundtrack:

G'schichten aus dem Wienerwald, Op.325

True to the facts but dull

Faithful - but uninspired - account of the notorious Landru case, which swept over post WWWI France.

The film follows the facts closely, from Henri Désiré Landru's "family life", seductions and murders to his trial and execution. Well if your objective was to get the main details of a famous serial murder case you will be satisfied. However a film lover could have expected something more fiery, more intense, more unsettling from Claude Chabrol than just that.

To tell the truth there is more to this movie than...just that. Indeed there are good production values, fine colours, slightly stylized settings and a stellar cast. Nevertheless, I couldn't help stifling a yawn now and then.

Why so? Maybe because such great ladies as Danielle Darrieux, Michèle Morgan, Mary Marquet, or Hildegard Knef are given almost nothing to do.Only Stéphane Audran stands out in the part of Landru's naïve young mistress, Fernande.

Charles Denner, on the other hand, oddly directed by Chabrol, is a physical lookalike of the "sieur de Gambais" but fails to deliver both charm and terror.

It looks as though Claude Chabrol ,who is so at ease with what I would call "domestic" monsters ( Jean Yanne in "Le Boucher" and "Que la Bête meure", Michel Bouquet in "La Femme infidèle" and several others )was petrified by his cold-hearted, cynical monster, with absolutely no redeeming features. He did not manage to bring life to his character.

Landru, too monstrous a monster , even for Chabrol ?