The Butcher

PG

Released Sep 12, 1970

1h 40m

Mystery & Thriller

List

100%

Tomatometer

7 Reviews

84%

Audience Score

1,000+ Ratings

At a wedding in a quiet rural French village, school headmistress Helene (Stéphane Audran) meets local butcher Popaul (Jean Yanne). Though the reserved Helene is still traumatized by the failure of a past relationship, Popaul's boyish charm draws her out of her shell. But shortly after their relationship begins, a string of murders surrounds the village, and, when Helene recognizes an item she had given Popaul near one of the crime scenes, she begins to suspect he may be the murderer.

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Le Boucher has us always thinking.

Rated: 4/4

Jan 15, 2004

Full Review

Dick Lochte

Los Angeles Free Press

A compact, hard, bright iewel of a movie.

Jan 8, 2020

Full Review

Jake Euker

F5 (Wichita, KS)

Rated: 4/5

Feb 18, 2007

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 4/5

Aug 8, 2005

Full Review

Thomas Delapa

Boulder Weekly

Rated: 5/5

Apr 21, 2005

Full Review

Christopher Null

Filmcritic.com

Rated: 3/5

Jul 31, 2003

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William L

It's French New Wave, so viewers are obligated to give it the benefit of the doubt, right? Eh, not really. The Butcher is a very distinctive style of thriller that you're either totally drawn in by or just feel rather bored with; the film leaves very little ambiguity or mystery as to who is responsible for the murders, with the focus not on the killer but on Audran's Hélène; she is forced to confront her own knowledge about another's guilt, how that reflects upon herself, while simultaneously considering potential romantic entanglements and her own survival. On paper, it looks good. In practice, it feels more like a poorly-executed thriller with a tremendous amount of excess melodrama. There are exceptionally well-designed elements at play, including the characters that have more than one dimensions to them, and the performances of both Audran and Yanne, which are reserved and together embody distinct forms of past trauma. But as a total end product, it can't help but feel like less than the sum of its parts. (2.5/5)

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

08/12/21

Full Review

dave j

(In French with English subtitles) It centers on a French village with Helen (Stéphane Audran) and Paul (Jean Yanne), the butcher hence the title meeting each other for the first time at a friend's wedding. And upon them becoming acquainted with one another is when the murders begin to happen, making viewers suspecting that their realtionship are somehow connected.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

S R

1001 movies to see before you die. Sadly, the symbolism and themes did not make up for the slow pace and undynamic acting and screenplay. It had some good moments and French culture, but it was tedious for me and I don't plan to see it again. RUS.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

11/01/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Le Boucher is essentially Chabrol correcting what was wrong with Hitchcock's Suspicion, and I think he does this knowingly. In many ways it's a loose remake, but it ends up being much better than Suspicion, allowing itself to tell a story about shame and self-confrontation, and a edge-of-your-seat suspense story.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Considered Claude Chabrol's masterpiece, Le Boucher is a Hitchcockian thriller about a schoolteacher with a broken heart who moves to a small village in order to start anew. She becomes tangled with the local butcher, who may or not be a vicious serial killer who is butchering women around the village. I thought this film was a bit slow, but the ending is good, and the movie is more about building up to the moments instead of constant thrills.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A subtle slow burning romance drenched in Hitchcockian dread, this film centers on a beautiful blonde headmistress who falls for the dark mysterious local butcher. But when she suspects him of brutally murdering local woman, will her desire for him outweigh her civic duties? Cinematic proof that beauty can conquer the beast.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

Full Review

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Claude Chabrol

Director

Stéphane Audran

Helene

Jean Yanne

Popaul

Roger Rudel

Police Inspector Grumbach

Antonio Passalia

Angelo

Mario Beccaria

Leon Hamel

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Synopsis

At a wedding in a quiet rural French village, school headmistress Helene (Stéphane Audran) meets local butcher Popaul (Jean Yanne). Though the reserved Helene is still traumatized by the failure of a past relationship, Popaul's boyish charm draws her out of her shell. But shortly after their relationship begins, a string of murders surrounds the village, and, when Helene recognizes an item she had given Popaul near one of the crime scenes, she begins to suspect he may be the murderer.

Director: Claude Chabrol
Producer: André Génovès
Screenwriter: Claude Chabrol
Distributor: Pathfinder Pictures
Production Co: Euro International Film (EIA) S.p.A.
Rating: PG
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: French (France)
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 12, 1970, Original
Release Date (DVD): Mar 23, 2004
Runtime: 1h 40m