Summary
During World War I, a seemingly respectable middle-aged man Henri Landru has devised an
ingenious means of obtaining money to feed his large family. Adopting various assumed
names, he lures middle-class women to his villa at Gambais just outside Paris, where he
kills them and burns their bodies. He then helps himself to his victim’s bank
accounts. Having murdered 10 women and one boy, Landru is finally captured and placed
before a court of law. With an eloquent defence, he is optimistic that he will not
be found guilty…
Review
One of Claude Chabrol’s most bizarre films, Landru is an extraordinary
off-the-wall black comedy which allows the director to combine his flair for comedy and
thriller to create something which is both original and surprisingly entertaining.
Compared with Chabrol’s conventional thrillers, the mood of this film is light,
with some moments of delicious slapstick comedy (most notably Landru's arrest).
In fact, you would hardly think that Landru had committed any crime at all, so banal is
the way in which his lifestyle is portrayed. What should be moments of horror are
brilliantly transformed into comedy, something which has an unsettling effect on the audience.
The film is most memorable for a remarkable performance from Charles Denner who, barely
recognisable under his make-up, plays the creepy Monsieur Landru, in fact almost too convincingly.
Denner’s Landru is as seductive and tender as he is frightening, making the casual
way in which he disposes of his victims doubly disturbing.
Ultimately, it is the self-righteous and complacent bourgeois milieu in which the murderer
lives, not the murderer himself, that is the real villain of the film – a theme
which reveals itself in many of Chabrol’s films.
© James Travers 2000
For more on Claude Chabrol see:
The life of Claude Chabrol
Le Beau Serge
Les Cousins
Le Boucher
Que la bête meure
La Cérémonie
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