Vu et revu sur ARTE, soirée Marie Trintignant.
Sainte Marie, pleine de merde,
pourri est le fruit de vos entrailles.
A cold look at petainist France through the story of an infamous "angel maker" during the Occupation, the only such "criminal" to be guillotined. Not only is the physical reconstruction good but the psyche of the time too: egocentrism, greed, lies, delation, almost everything being conveyed through Huppert's Marie Latour/Marie-Louise Giraud. The nature of the case and her domestic life also add a touch of women freedom without falling into blank "feminism".
The movie looks like all the french period dramas of its time (competently made but vapid), but some of Chabrol's angle and other directorial choices make up for it.
Score: 7/10
Enjoyment: 4/5