Les Innocents aux mains sales (1975)
Directed by Claude Chabrol

Film Review

Whilst not generally regarded as one of Claude Chabrol's better works, Les innocents aux mains sales is still definitely worth watching if only because it is one of the director's weirder and less predictable films.  It is quite a disturbing film, bleakly cynical in its portrayal of both marriage and the legal system, and contains many of the ingredients that are so essential to Chabrol's oeuvre.  Infidelity, deceit, deception, jealousy and revenge - in fact the whole gamut of the darker aspects of human nature that poison relationships and result in many a tragic outcome. 

The darkness of the subject is emphasised by the understated cinematography - the muted palate of browns and greys and the subdued lighting are so obviously inappropriate for the sunny St Tropez location and yet so perfect for the story.  The impression this gives is that whilst the central character Julie (superbly played by Romy Schneider) has immense wealth and at least the semblance of a stable marriage, the reality is that all such comforts are entirely illusory, and she knows it.  In this pretty world of bourgeois complacency, what lies on the surface and what lies beneath are two entirely different things, as we find in many a Claude Chabrol film.

There is also a slightly sinister blackly comedic edge to this film which only really becomes apparent after repeated viewings and with some familiarity with Chabrol's work.  Of course, there are some obvious touches of comedy - such as the police duo Lamy and Villon deducing plot developments that have just been seen by the audience; as the plot gets increasingly implausible, the funnier this becomes.  What is more subtle, comedically, is the increasingly bizarre nature of the relationship that Julie has with her husband and her lover.  Does she care for either them, or is she merely concerned about her wealth?  Does she derive pleasure from the ill-treatment the two men give her, or is she tormented by it?  Is she the victim or is she the guilty party, the prime mover, in this complex tale of deceit and revenge?  We can never be sure - ambiguity and deception are so much a part of this film that we can't even be sure whether we should believe half of what we are shown...

Film Synopsis

Forced into earlier retirement after a near-fatal heart attack, hard-nosed businessman Louis Wormser now leads a peaceful existence with his young wife Julie on the French Riviera.  Whilst Louis has his drinking and his boating to keep him occupied, Julie is slowly dying of boredom and welcomes the arrival of Jeff Marle, a dishy young writer.  Now that her husband is unable to meet her conjugal needs, Julie proves to be an easy conquest for her virile neighbour.  They are soon pursuing a torrid love affair and this leads them to contemplate a new life together.  But first they must get rid of the troublesome husband.

Louis's predilection for booze and boats suggests an obvious solution: render him unconscious and then make it appear that he died in a boating accident.  It is a plan that can hardly fail.  So, once Julie has knocked her husband out, Jeff sets about disposing of the body.  When her lover fails to return as agreed, Julie becomes anxious that something may have gone wrong.  After several agonising hours of waiting, she has no choice but to report her husband's disappearance to the police - to do otherwise would be to invite suspicion.  Meanwhile, Jeff is on his way to Italy in his victim's car, leaving his lover to deal with the police as best she can.

Things begin well enough.  The investigating detectives, Lamy and Villon, concord with Julie's theory that her husband must have fallen from his boat after suffering another heart attack.  But then Julie discovers that, on the day before he was killed, Louis withdraw all of his money from the bank and put his villa up for sale.  The dead man's car is then found, wrecked, having gone over the edge of a precipice, with no trace of a body.  Julie is at a complete loss to explain what is happening.  Is it possible that Jeff has betrayed her, or did Louis foresee his murder and make plans to get even with his wife from beyond the grave?  The truth is more terrible than Julie can dare imagine.  And the fun is only just beginning...