Although not as well known as some of the French directors who started making movies in the late 50s and early 60s, in his own way Claude Chabrol was just as influential. Indeed, some have argued that without him, there may have been no French New Wave at all, as he was the first of the Cahiers Du Cinema critics to move from writing about cinema to actually making films. Indeed at Cahier Du Cinema, he was also one of the main critics resposible for developing auteur theory.
Renowned as both a master of mystery and for his delight in skewering the middle classes (he had decidely communist political leanings), his first film, Le Beau Serge, is considered the first ripple of the New Wave. However unlike some of the other French filmmakers who came in his wake, Chabrol was happy to sometimes work in the mainstream, and sometimes head to the fringes.
While many of his movies played on the theme of infidelity in the middle classes leading to murder, he made a vast array of different movies, managing to produce over 60 films in a 50 year career. While he perhaps lacked a defining masterpiece, such as Godard and Truffaut produced, he made consistently interesting movies, riffing on everything from sexual frustration (such as the slightly absurd The Beast Must Die) to mainstream spy thrillers. Indeed it is perhaps because he didn’t seem to fit neatly into the auteur theory he helped create, and that he also refused to take himself too seriously, that he’s tended to be ignored more than many of his contemporaries. Nevertheless he was a very important and influential director, who certainly has a worthy place in cinema history.
Claude Chabrol – 24th June, 1930-12th September, 2010 – RIP