La Rupture = The Breakup

A wife and mother, Helene, battles to defend herself and her child against an attack by her husband Charles while he is under the influence of LSD. With his son in hospital her father-in-law moves to gain custody of the child by employing the needy Paul to spy on Helene in order to find cause. This is the fourth of Chabrol’s series of thrillers set in bourgeois households, usually involving a triangle, that began with ‘Les Biches’ (1968). It also involves a further variant on the redemption-through-the-assumption-of-guilt theme recurring in Chabrol’s films, which he found, as a critic, recurring in Hitchcock’s work. Also available on VHS.

Credits: Director, [script], Claude Chabrol ; photography, Jean Rabier ; music, Pierre Jansen ; editor, Jacques Gaillard ; sound, Guy Chichignoud.
Cast: Stephane Audran, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Michel Bouquet, Annie Cordy, Jean-Claude Drouot, Michel Duchaussoy.

Note: Based on the novel by Charlotte Armstrong “Le jour des parques”.