Les Biches. 18 January 2014. 2:30 pm

We would like to gratefully acknowledge the invaluable assistance of

the Cultural Service of the French Embassy in Ireland,

and in particular Elisabetta Sabbatini,

who was instrumental in locating the relevant film distributor

and in securing the non-theatrical permission to screen this film in Ireland.

Dir. Claude Chabrol, 1968

Starring: Stéphane Audran, Jaqueline Sassard, Jean-Louis Trintignant

French (with English subtitles)

A posh lady walks around Paris, and spots a beautiful homeless girl painting on the pavement for a few franks… Naturally, she takes her home and offers her a roof and a bed -- her bed. You would think that the admired director Claude Chabrol made this lesbian film in the spirit of the sexual revolution… but there is so much class hatred sipping through, and there is so much boredom and casual cruelty in the free-wheeling triangle that ensues, that it is not too clear what’s on Chabrol’s mind. This is the very opposite of a celebration of lesbian sisterhood, and why shouldn’t it be? The Seventies showed us that everything was possible, not necessarily that everything was advisable. Whatever you think of its message, the movie is worth watching for Stéphane Audran alone (the star of the much-loved film Babette’s Feast), who won the best actress award at Berlin for this role, and who manages to be totally threatening and totally alluring all at once…

Film Qlub

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