Les noces rouges (1973)

Lucienne Delamare and Pierre Maury are having an affair. Lucienne's husband Paul is the mayor, and a French deputy. Pierre's wife Clotilde has been weak and sickly for years. Lucienne's ... See full summary »

Director:

Claude Chabrol

Writers:

Aeschylus (opening quotation), Claude Chabrol

Stars:

Stéphane Audran, Michel Piccoli, Claude Piéplu

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Stéphane Audran	...	Lucienne Delamare
Michel Piccoli	...	Pierre Maury
Claude Piéplu	...	Paul Delamare
Clotilde Joano	...	Clotilde Maury
Eliana De Santis	...	Hélène Chevalier, Lucienne's daughter
François Robert	...	Auriol
Daniel Lecourtois	...	Prefet / Department governor
Pippo Merisi	...	Berthier
Ermanno Casanova	...	Le conseiller

Storyline

Lucienne Delamare and Pierre Maury are having an affair. Lucienne's husband Paul is the mayor, and a French deputy. Pierre's wife Clotilde has been weak and sickly for years. Lucienne's husband holds no excitement for her, and he is always away in Paris on business. Pierre is now the vice-mayor, thanks to Paul. Lucienne and Pierre have a secret meeting spot by a lake along a country lane. Pierre's wife dies suddenly, by suicide the town gossips believe. Pierre confesses otherwise to Lucienne. Paul proposes a shady land deal which will "benefit the town", and wants Pierre's political support and collusion. Then Paul discovers proof of his wife's affair...

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Plot Keywords:

hitchcockian | mayor | color in title | paris france | berry | 

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Taglines:

A Matter of Lust and Death

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

France Italy

Language:

French

Release Date:

12 April 1973 (France)

Also Known As:

Wedding in Blood

Filming Locations:

France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canaria Films, Italian International Film, Les Films de la Boétie

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in La Cérémonie (1995)

User Reviews

Interesting though not Chabrol's best

This film has a persistently artificial feel to it that at times serves it well and at times is a hindrance - it sometimes serves to highlight the hypocrisy and corruption of the milieu and give the central characters a decadent air, but at times it interferes with character development, as it interferes with our understanding of the characters. The plot itself is rather conventional but is essentially an excuse to dissect a certain milieu. The most interesting character is in my opinion very underrated: the mayor's stepdaughter, who is clearly intelligent, somewhat sombre but decidedly not bookish. She is the sole character that does not seem motivated by purely selfish, fairly conventional motives (money, political ambition, boredom, sexual desire, etc), making her motivations harder to fathom. She is the only character with any real mystery about her; it's hinted she has some kind of fascination with death, and she makes a surprising comment related to the role of women, all of which add to her ambiguity as a character.