Rating of
3.5/4
Marie LaTour Descends Into a Life of Evil
Allison - wrote on 05/03/08
(The spoilers are noted each time before they are revealed.) I once
watched a special on Claude Chabrol's career. It said that his constant
theme is people falling into crime so slow, so gradually, they wonder
how they got there. It dawned on me that this fit most of his films.
However, that description fits this movie most of all.
I think this was my second Chabrol film, so I didn't know what to expect
at all. I don't even think I read the back cover. Isabelle Huppert
plays a woman who begins to see Nazi forces at work right before WWII.
(Spoilers: First her Jewish friend is taken away. When money runs low,
she beings performing abortions and renting out her home to prostitutes
so she can have luxuries for her children during WWII. She has an
affair and her husband turns her in out of jealousy. From being a
normal mother, suddenly she finds herself on death row for committing
several abortions on prostitutes. You almost feel sorry for her, until
she remains unrepentant to the end.) Such an incredible performance,
even though Isabelle Huppert's character is thoroughly unlikable. It is
actually a true story, based on Marie La Tour (Spoiler: the last woman
to receive the death penalty in France).
