Claude Chabrol may just be the best and most underrated filmmaker working today. This masterly thriller is miles above the childish junk that passes for "suspense" today,like THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY. The performances, especially by Isabelle Huppert and Sandrine Bonnaire, are magnificent, and Chabrol's direction is masterful and rigorous without being showy. The film gathers force as it moves inexorably towards its violent and shattering conclusion, stopping along the way for delicious moments of black comedy. The influence of both Alfred Hithcock and Fritz Lang can be felt in Chabrol's mis-en-scene, but he has long since come out from under their shadows to become his own man cinematically. A classic.
Review of La Cérémonie
