The Butcher

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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 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 08/12/21 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 2/5 Stars •  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 4/5 Stars •  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 3/5 Stars •  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 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Audience Member http://filmreviewsnsuch.blogspot.com/2016/03/le-boucher.html Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Butcher

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