Chez Maupassant (TV Series) Le petit fût (2008) User Reviews

"Now that you're dead,you can drink it all your life,for eternity!"

[morrison-dylan-fan · 8/10 · 5 October 2020]

After viewing Takashi Miike's peculiar God's Puzzle (2008-also reviewed) I started looking for another 2008 title from a fellow auteur to double bill it with. Checking the pile of movies from the year I've got waiting to be played,I was excited to spot a obscure Claude Chabrol flick,leading to me pouring a cup of brandy.

View on the film:

The last of two Guy de Maupassant short film adaptations he made for the TV series Chez Maupassant, directing auteur Claude Chabrol (CC) closely works with cinematographer Bruno Privat in taking the wry Comedy of La Parure (2007-also reviewed) in a jet-black macabre direction,with the jaunty score acting as a neat counter balance to the cackling bourgeois Chicot.

Drinking up Chicot's (played with grinding rage by Francois Berleand) agreement, CC continues to strike at the rotten heart of the rural bourgeois countryside, in elegant panning shots towards Chicot waiting in hope for Magloire (played with a sharp cunningness by Tsilla Chelton) to die.

Reuniting with Chabrol after La Parure,the screenplay by Gerard Jourd'hui & Jacques Santamaria keep the limited number of characters sprightly with wickedly cynical between Magloire finding ways to agitate a increase in the cash,and Chicot pouring out plans to end the payments to Magloire.

The little barrel

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 28 May 2011]

Prosper Chicot, the owner of a tavern, makes the calvados from the apples that grow in his fields. Everyone loves the taste of the potent drink, which is widely appreciated by the patrons of his place. Chicot, an ambitious man, covets the fields of his neighbor, Mme. Magloire, an elderly woman in her seventies, living alone with no heirs apparently.

One day Prosper goes to see the lady. He finds her peeling potatoes. He has a new proposal: he will buy her property and pay her a monthly amount and she can keep her farm for as long as she lives. The cunning old woman does not quite get the concept, but being fond of money, she takes the matter into a notary in town, who assures her it is a legitimate deal.

Some three years elapse and the lady is in perfect health. She shows no signs of illness. One day, she visits the tavern, as a guest of Chicot. He goes to her table where she has feasted on foods she never eats. Prosper offers her a drink of his prized calvados. Mme. Magloire is skeptical at first, but she can appreciate the taste and how light and happy she feels afterward. Chicot figures he has the solution to his problems. Every month he visits the old woman with the money he owes her and a barrel of his excellent liquor. It does not take long before the old lady is dead, thus giving Prosper the coveted farm for which he paid dearly.

The Maupassant tale is a short one, but Claude Chabrol, and his collaborators Gerard Jourd'hoi and Jacques Santana expanded on the story brilliantly. The superb casting could not be better: Tsilla Chilton of "Tatie Danielle" fame, is on hand to play Mme. Magloire and Francois Berleand is Prosper Chicot. Seeing these two wonderful performers bring to life Guy de Maupassant story to life, guided by the master Chabrol, is a delicious experience.