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Interviews

The Essentials: The Films Of Claude Chabrol

By Oliver Lyttelton
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September 22, 2011 5:04 AM
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5 Comments

Looking at the core French New Wave movement in broad strokes, you essentially get five Cahiers Du Cinéma critics-turned-filmmakers: Jean-Luc Godard, the all-you-need-is-a-gun-and-a-woman, pop-cinema deconstructionist turned oblique radical; François Truffaut, the humanist with an affinity for childhood; Eric Rohmer, the genial comedic moralist; opaque experimentalist Jacques Rivette; and then, over in the corner, Claude Chabrol. Considered by many to be the most mainstream of the group, with his sinister, provocative, Hitchockian impulses, the filmmaker was also appraised as a distant, sometimes aloof formalist, given his objectivist proclivity for eye-of-god morality tales that generally end in tragedy.

By Edward Davis
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December 11, 2010 8:05 AM
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10 Comments

Annual Video Memorial Also Features Leslie Nielsen, Claude Chabrol, Lena Horne & Many MoreEvery December, the great Turner Classic Movies -- pretty much the sole reason this writer holds on to cable TV -- puts together a video tribute of all the tremendous talents in film we've lost that year, respectfully remembering all those dearly departed greats; from iconic actors, to lesser-known writers and producers to titan directors of cinema, it's not unlike the annual Oscar tribute. TCM Remembers 2010 has arrived and it's another loving memorial for all those who passed on this year in film. There's too many to mention -- though let's also give shout outs to John Forsythe, Jill Clayburgh, Peter Graves, Irvin Kershner, Dino De Laurentiis, Kathryn Grayson, and Dede Allen (editor of "The Hustler," "Bonnie and Clyde," "Dog Day Afternoon") -- and most of our favorites are mentioned above, put personally, pour out a little extra more for Penn, Rohmer, Hopper, Neal, Curtis and Chabrol -- losing two greats of the French New Wave hurts.