In his fiftieth film, Chabrol takes us inside the private lives of one terribly conflicted upper-class French family. What do we see? Beautiful villas, lamprey stew, more incestuous relations than I could count on one hand, murder, adultery, and a smattering of local politics.
"The Flower of Evil" is an engrossing and often confusing film. Young star Mélanie Doutey, radiantly in love with her step-brother (Benoît Magimel), is always a captivating presence on the screen, as is her mother, played by Nathalie Baye, who is in an unhappy second marriage to her first cousin (Bernard Lecoq). The seeds of evil from past generations do not lie dormant, as history disconcertingly repeats itself.
The Flowers of Evil premieres at the New York Film Festival on October 8. The film opens in selected cities on Friday, October 10.
