“In my entire career, I’ve never met such a nervous actor.” – Claude Chabrol on Jean Poiret
This summer, Spectacle is proud to present our first investigation into Claude Chabrol’s off-beat murder mystery series starring Jean Poiret as Inspecteur Lavardin, an unconventional detective, who is sometimes referred to as the French Columbo (if Columbo broke laws indiscriminately and brought his suspects out back to beat them to confession).
While traditional in their portrayals of the murder mystery subgenre, these skillfully directed films told through Chabrol’s voyeuristic lens are actually, at their core, comedic satires aimed at the deep-rooted hypocrisies of bourgeois provincialism. Filmed in the mid-1980s and later reprised as a short-lived French television series in 1988, POULET AU VINAIGRE (1985) and INSPECTEUR LAVARDIN (1986) are perfect murder-mystery fare for cooling off during the late summer heat.
Special thanks to Arrow Video and the American Genre Film Archive.
POULET AU VINAIGRE
(aka COP AU VIN)
dir. Claude Chabrol, 1985
110 mins. France.
In French with English subtitles.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 03 – 7:30 PM
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26 – 7:30 PM
MONDAY, AUGUST 29 – 7:30 PM
A deliberately-paced dark comedy/murder mystery whodunit which begins as a tale of class struggle when a group of three wealthy land-developers try pressuring a young postman and his handicapped mother (played by Chabrol’s real-life wife) to sell their family home. Filled with conspiracy, blackmail and pranks gone too far, POULET AU VINAIGRE is an indictment of the wealthy starring an eccentric ensemble cast, each with their own duplicitous intentions.
INSPECTEUR LAVARDIN
dir. Claude Chabrol, 1986
110 mins. France.
In French with English subtitles.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 11 – 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, AUGUST 14 – 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, AUGUST 20 – 7:30 PM
MONDAY, AUGUST 29 – 10 PM
Reprising the role of the morally dubious cop, Claude Chabrol’s follow up is an ode to the Hitchcockian thriller focusing on a powerful religious writer who is murdered and defamed after shutting down a scandalous avant-garde theater performance. INSPECTEUR LAVARDIN stars French heavyweights Jean-Claude Brially (CLAIRE’S KNEE, LE BEAU SERGE) as the queer widower who spends his time crafting replica eyeballs, and Bernadette Lafont (THE MOTHER AND THE WHORE, A VERY CURIOUS GIRL) as the enigmatic Hitchcockian blonde (who also happens to be the ex-lover of our titular detective, Lavardin.)