L'Enfer
(1994)
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L'Enfer
(1994)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Emmanuelle Béart | ... |
Nelly
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| François Cluzet | ... |
Paul Prieur
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Nathalie Cardone | ... |
Marylin
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André Wilms | ... |
Doctor Arnoux
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Marc Lavoine | ... |
Martineau
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Christiane Minazzoli | ... |
Mme Vernon
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Dora Doll | ... |
Mme Chabert
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Mario David | ... |
Duhamel
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| Jean-Pierre Cassel | ... |
M. Vernon
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| Thomas Chabrol | ... |
Julien
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Noël Simsolo | ... |
M. Chabert
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Yves Verhoeven | ... |
Young Boy
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Amaya Antolin | ... |
Mariette
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Jean-Claude Barbier | ... |
M. Pinoiseau
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Claire De Beaumont | ... |
Mme Rudemont
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Paul, an irritable and stressed-out hotel manager, begins to gradually develop paranoid delusions about his wife's infidelity. As he succumbs to green-eyed jealousy, his life starts to crumble. Each step on his downward spiral to madness seems to accelerate, driving him further along the path to a personal hell. Finally, the former shell of his personality cracks completely, with tragic consequences. Written by Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>
Chabrol will always be Chabrol - sometimes less, rarely if ever more (maybe in La Femme Infidele...). But he's Chabrol, God bless him: love, lakes, bourgeoisie, jealousy, sex, meals, bonhomie, kids who appear and disappear, murderous thoughts, weird surrealism right before the end. You can set your watch by him. Emmanuel Beart is unbelievably sexy. And the film is a perfect illustration of some (dimly understood by me) Lacanian theories: sexual intercourse's dream of fusion is impossible, for example. Having possessed the ideal object, Cluzet knows that, in fact, one possesses nothing. Everything that makes Beart alluring also makes her dangerous in that she freely chooses...whatever she freely chooses. Freely choosing fidelity means that any moment you can freely choose infidelity. So a guy just can't win. That's why DeCordova in Bunuel's El (adroitly cited by another one of the readers here) pulls out the needle and thread. This film has none of the humor and acuity of Bunuel's neglected masterpiece. But it's Chabrol, and he's doing his thing. That ain't nothing...As a study of a man's descent from jealousy into madness, however, the film is powerful and well made but not super subtle.