Ophélia

"Ophelia " was Claude chabrol 's biggest flop ;in 1963 ,it was screened in two theaters in Paris where it only attracted 5,000 persons ; instant karma: it was not released in the Provinces and, being never screened on TV, remains one of the most obscure works in the director 's huge erratic career .

Featuring both female leads of Georges Franju's masterful "les yeux sans visage" (aka "eyes without a face") ,the excellent Alida Valli and the then up -and -coming Juliette Mayniel , did it deserve such a fiasco? Hindsight displays some of its charms : the usual splendid black and white cinematography by Henri Rabier creating outside a haunting atmosphere , the disturbing music (typically Chabrolesque) by Pierre Jansen and the silent movie , by far the best moment ,the film in the film (to echo the play in the play in "Hamlet " ) called "la souricière " (the mousetrap ): its amateur actors are much fun to watch and one regrets that Chabrol did not treat his whole movie a a comedy .He was able to do it ,as his underrated spoof on the thriller genre " docteur Popaul" bore out :it was his biggest commercial success , even though it was a far cry from his great achievements of the golden period 1967-1973.

Handicapped by André Jocelyn 's hysterical dismal performance (the people who only saw the dubbed version or with subtitles are spared) , who gets one's nerves in the long run; no wonder it was his last movie .Gérard Blain, Jean-Claude Brialy ,where were you?

Of course ,Chabrol's social concerns are present; the king of Elseneur becomes a big boss , the squire of Erneles (sic) ,who has hired a milice to protect him against the workers/anarchists but Ivan Lesurf (re-sic) does not show any rebellion against the bourgeoisie he's part of ,no "rupture" with his privileged world,and the ending remains ambiguous for that matter.