The Flower of Evil

Classical Greek students after a modern take on The House of Atreus need look no further than Chabrol's latest. As ever there is elegance and style to spare and it's really great to know that actresses as old as Suzanne Flon (who scored again this year in Effroyables Jardins) can still not only get meaty roles but also deliver. Unlike other commenters the charm, sex appeal and, most of all, acting ability of Benoit Magimal is lost on me but I would walk a mile for a Nathalie Baye performance and she does not disappoint here. I note that other comments touch on the Frenchness on display but if you choose to see a French film why expect Sauerkraut and halva. Not Chabrol's finest but still out of the right bottle.

"Flower of Evil" tells of a French Bordeaux bourgeoisie family of three generations with a family tree like a Los Angeles freeway map and a history of evil doings which doesn't really have anything to do with anything. As this film rolls along with the la-de-da day-to-day business of the mother running for local civic office while the step-sibs falling in love and granny putters around the garden, one can only wonder what the hell, if anything, is being developed in this apparent nonstory. When the end credits roll unexpectedly one can only wonder what Chabrol had in mind and why it was never really brought into clarity of fruition at the end. A kind of moderately interesting floparoo, this subtitled French flick has plenty of talent but no story. (C+)

This is a classical Chabrol film about the nature of crime. Chabrol gives major importance to the relationships in a family. The family is a normal family at first sight. But as the film proceeds we learn that there were betrayals, crimes and a murder in the family history. The grandfather has collaborated with the Nazis during the German occupation and has informed against his son and caused his death. Aunt Line was trialed for killing his father and found not guilty. Now Anne is the candidate for mayor and his husband Gerard is uneasy about his wife's political career and he seems to do everything to prevent her being elected as mayor. Love and crime are both inherits from one generation to the other. The woman characters of La Fleur du Mal are very interesting. They are strong, intelligent and giving. "Sooner or later one must pay for his/her crime" is one of the themes of the movie.

"La Fleur du Mal" (Flower of Evil) unfolded like a multi-layered nineteenth-century novel. There was a plot involving politics, a plot involving romance, and the deep family secrets that appear to have afflicted the characters in a multi-generational curse. One of the characters even refers to their lives as the equivalent of a novel by Emile Zola.

I appreciated the rich psychological levels of the characters and the fine performances under the direction of Claude Chabrol. The character of Aunt Line as played by Suzanne Flon was especially moving. There were effective emotional moments involving reverie and interior monologue that conveyed great depth of feeling. In American films, we would have been given generic "flashback" scenes. In the more subtle European film-making style, the performer conveyed the past through emotional expression.

Like so many of the great nineteenth-century novels where everyone seems to be marrying his or her cousin, so too in "La Fleur du Mal" one of the plot lines focuses on a young man and woman deeply in love, who realize that their bloodlines are too close for comfort. Some of the film's most intense scenes are those in which the couple seeks to understand their complex family ties.

Interestingly, this eclectic film is not without dark humor, including a truly bizarre sequence related to an accidental murder. Stylistically, this is a film experience with lush cinematography of the contemporary Bordeaux region, filled with sensitive compositional choices and careful set-ups. If the characters had been outfitted in nineteenth-century costumes, this really could have been a Zola novel.

This is a 100% French movie possibly not ever intended for American viewers. However, being the francophile that I am, I dug up "Flower of Evil" at my local library and proceeded to view it with much anticipation. Nathalie Baye is one of my favorite French actresses.

The story moves along a little slow but the mood of the film is enticing and it leads you to believe that something dark is lurking just beneath the surface.

That dark stuff emerges later on in various subplots while the entire plot does thicken up a bit with good tension. I felt a bit let down when it came time for a climax but I wouldn't dismiss this film because of that, I really enjoyed the superb acting, fine character development, and otherwise gripping story, a characteristic of many French dramas. Maybe some of the subtlety was just lost on me, but I liked the fact that you're never sure who's good or bad, but you end up feeling for each character.

"La Fleur du Mal" is a film for serious film watchers and/or students of acting or drama, and not for mindless entertainment.