The Butcher

A village in the French countryside. Popaul the butcher and Helene the schoolteacher become friends; there is closeness, but the relationship never moves anywhere else. In the same period murders are happening nearby. One day Helene finds something that points to Popaul. Confronted, he confesses, and rather than harm her he takes his own life. Claude Chabrol directed. Stephane Audran plays Helene and Jean Yanne plays Popaul. Jean Rabier photographed it and Pierre Jansen wrote the score. The location was a deliberate choice. Chabrol wanted a village with prehistoric caves nearby, and when his first choice turned out to be too commercialised he settled on Tremolat. Real locations in the village were used, including the actual butcher's shop. Vincent Canby in the New York Times compared it favourably to Hitchcock and called it the most elegant and most sorrowful of Chabrol's recent films. Stephane Audran won the Silver Shell for Best Actress at San Sebastian in 1970, and Chabrol took the Bodil Award for Best Non-American Film in 1971. Who it is for: viewers who like tension built from quiet rather than violence. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a detective resolution. The killer's identity is clear early, and the film is interested not in the investigation but in what passes between two people.