As others have noted, Chabrol is masterful in setting a tone of uneasy suspense. As the movie progresses, we gradually shift to the edge of our seat, figuratively at least. But is something else going on here as well?
******SPOILERS******
Roger Ebert's review prompted me to have another look at Helene as she appears at the hospital at the very end. He's right, there is something in her look there that is very different from concern or sadness; I'd say it is the look of triumph.
Helene, you will recall, once had a lover, but he left her a decade ago. She claims not to have formed any attachments since. If true, it appears she has never fully recovered from being discarded. Just as Popaul has been traumatized by his time in the army, she appears to have been permanently scarred by this event in her past.
Yet she clearly shows interest in Popaul...inviting him up to her flat to cook a leg of lamb he has brought her, asking him to go mushroom-hunting, giving him a birthday gift. So what gives?
As I read it, Helene's game is to attract men, get them to make an emotional investment, then dump them before she can be dumped--whether out of fear of being abandoned again herself, or as twisted revenge on men in general, or for some other reason. This would explain the triumph and satisfaction on her face at the hospital: Popaul has just given her the most abject confession of love, and even obsession, conceivable. She has (once again?) emerged victorious, unscathed. She has claimed a victim--perhaps another in a series. As such, she is no less a predator than he is, and for parallel reasons.
Perhaps all this is too cynical. Perhaps I'm reading too much into her behavior. But look closely at her expression as they wheel Popaul away on the gurney, and you'll have to admit that she is no cliched innocent victim (or near-victim). Something else is at work here.
******SPOILERS******
Roger Ebert's review prompted me to have another look at Helene as she appears at the hospital at the very end. He's right, there is something in her look there that is very different from concern or sadness; I'd say it is the look of triumph.
Helene, you will recall, once had a lover, but he left her a decade ago. She claims not to have formed any attachments since. If true, it appears she has never fully recovered from being discarded. Just as Popaul has been traumatized by his time in the army, she appears to have been permanently scarred by this event in her past.
Yet she clearly shows interest in Popaul...inviting him up to her flat to cook a leg of lamb he has brought her, asking him to go mushroom-hunting, giving him a birthday gift. So what gives?
As I read it, Helene's game is to attract men, get them to make an emotional investment, then dump them before she can be dumped--whether out of fear of being abandoned again herself, or as twisted revenge on men in general, or for some other reason. This would explain the triumph and satisfaction on her face at the hospital: Popaul has just given her the most abject confession of love, and even obsession, conceivable. She has (once again?) emerged victorious, unscathed. She has claimed a victim--perhaps another in a series. As such, she is no less a predator than he is, and for parallel reasons.
Perhaps all this is too cynical. Perhaps I'm reading too much into her behavior. But look closely at her expression as they wheel Popaul away on the gurney, and you'll have to admit that she is no cliched innocent victim (or near-victim). Something else is at work here.