La Femme Infidele

Claude Chabrol, 1969
Fascinating when we consider how all of Chabrol’s conscious Hitchockianism will of course lead to this picture, which at times is pretty much pure Bunuel.
By this we mean; glint in the eye, absurdist humour (silliness of actions); violence behind the bourgeois facade; simple camera that waist-up tracks, but follows objects before people; very shallow depth (staging and colouring, not lens), people going through artificial world in slow, almost theatrical way. Relation of Hitchcock to Bunuel is surely one of the richest in the great auteur debates.
Again; Chabrol isn’t really nasty. Moments of genuine happiness among the drinking and infidelity. Warm central performances.
The most interesting thing about this film could be the widescreen shooting. Chabrol uses less close ups (hence more Bunuelian), though still uses vastly more than most. Able to establish space even when one actor is focussed. Use of character juxtaposed with other objects used in widescreen format. Also note soft lighting, gauzing, twinkling of objects. Perhaps Chabrol’s (of what we have so far seen) prettiest film. Fine images at the end. Excellent work. We do love Bunuel.