Film Review
Claude Chabrol chose to commemorate his fifty years of filmmaking by
paying homage to the world renowned Belgian writer Georges Simenon and
his most famous creation Commissioner Jules Maigret. As it turned
out, this was the last film that Chabrol made before his
death and it feels an appropriate way to end his illustrious career,
exploring as it does the dark perversities of human nature within the
framework of a twisted murder mystery. Although
Bellamy has received mixed reviews
in some quarters, it stands as one of Chabrol's most complex and
perceptive works, somewhat less accessible and less stylish than the
director's well-regarded thrillers but offering a more profound insight
into the workings of the human psyche.
Bellamy is an intricately
woven psychological drama which revolves around three main characters -
the ageing cop Bellamy, his dipsomaniac brother and a mysterious
stranger with a suitcaseful of secrets. The Simenon-inspired
crime mystery is the bait which lures the spectator into the guts of the film,
an exploration of the troubled relationship between Bellamy and his
brother, two wildly contrasting characters who look increasingly like
two facets of the same personality. The deceit and duplicity that
are exposed in the course of the crime investigation are nothing
compared with those which Bellamy discovers in his own life. Once
the film is underway, it relies less on the machinery of the classic
crime mystery and becomes a darkly melancholic study in identity.
Chabrol's mise-en-scène may lack the edge that it once had but
this is amply made up for by the quality of the screenplay and some
faultless performances from an exceptional cast. In his one and
only collaboration with Chabrol, Gérard Depardieu turns in one of
the most intense performances of his career,
an arresting portrayal of restless late middle-age that appears to be riven with
burgeoning existentialist angst. Clovis
Cornillac and Jacques Gamblin are privileged to play characters that
are just as intriguing and well-drawn, and repay this compliment with
performances that are just as gripping and authentic as
Depardieu's. Cornillac is moving as the habitual drunk who
appears to have made a complete mess of his life whilst Gamblin - the
memorable lead in Chabrol's previous
Au coeur du mensonge (1999) -
is suitably cast as the ambiguous and slightly sinister stranger who
sets the drama in motion.
Anyone who expects
Bellamy to
be a slick thriller of the kind that Chabrol is particularly renowned
for risks being disappointed by this film. Neither is it
strictly a detective drama, even if a summary of its plot may suggest
otherwise. Rather, this film is better categorised as a character
study of a similar kind to the director's earlier
Betty
(1992), one that sets out to dissect a complex personality in an
attempt to work out what makes him tick, only to conclude that the
human soul is too unfathomable for the human mind to grasp. One
of the most intelligently scripted of Claude Chabrol's films, and with
performances to match,
Bellamy
is a darkly compelling meditation on human frailty that serves as a
pretty respectable end to a truly remarkable filmmaking career.
© James Travers 2010
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Next Claude Chabrol film:
Le Beau Serge (1958)
Film Synopsis
As is his custom, police commissioner Paul Bellamy takes his
annual summer break in the south of France, staying with wife
Francoise's family in Nimes. Bellamy, a workaholic, would rather
be back in Paris fighting crime and certainly has no enthusiasm for his
wife's holiday plans. Fortunately, he is rescued by the
unexpected intrusion of two men - his good-for-nothing brother Jacques
and a 40-something stranger, Noël Gentil, who is in desperate need
of his help. The former takes a perverse delight in raking over
old family grievances whilst the latter intrigues Paul with a bizarre
tale involving a murder and faked insurance claim. This is the
kind of holiday Paul Bellamy prefers...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.