La Femme Infidèle (1969)

Claude Chabrol.

‘Stéphane Audran: The epitome of sophisticated French womanhood…’

Nothing like a bored housewife. Especially if she’s French, beautiful- and bourgeois to boot. In Luis Buñuel’s Belle de Jour (1967)- a film we’ll cover at a later date- Catherine Deneuve’s Séverine turns to prostitution. La Femme Infidèle (1969), Claude Chabrol’s tale of infidelity and crime passionnel (set against a background of the wealthy- and supposedly shallow- middle class), explores a similar theme, even if Hélène (Stéphane Audran) resorts to a less drastic action.

Hélène’s a thirty-something housewife, married to a reserved forty-something businessman, Charles (Michel Bouquet)- a terribly nice chap with thinning hair who adores her- but there’s not much going on between the sheets: it’s a case of pyjamas, late-night television, a chaste kiss and ‘Bonsoir, mon Cherie’. Which is a shame, as Steph’s one hundred per cent, drop-dead, hog-whimpering gorgeous- the epitome of sophisticated French womanhood.

‘a reserved forty-something businessman… a terribly nice chap with thinning hair…’