Web of Passion

Released Jul 18, 1961

1h 41m

Crime

Drama

List

80%

Tomatometer

5 Reviews

66%

Audience Score

500+ Ratings

Murder follows a married Frenchman's bold affair with his next-door neighbor.

Read More

Read Less

Prime Video

Rent Web of Passion on Prime Video, or buy it on Prime Video.

Richard Brody

New Yorker

...a burst of rage against family propriety, a riotous basket of references to other movies, and a virtuosic display of giddily extravagant style.

Apr 14, 2020

Full Review

Penelope Gilliatt

Observer (UK)

Chabrol subscribe to a widespread movement in the French avant-garde to eliminate the artist's voice so that he can disclaim responsibility for what is being said. It seems a shifty endeavour, and vastly separate from the creative process.

Mar 6, 2024

Full Review

Dan Callahan

Reverse Shot

Chabrol was a hedonist who made no bones about how much he relished food and sex, usually in that order.

Aug 1, 2011

Full Review

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

Claude Chabrol's dissection of the living-dead bourgeoisie

Oct 10, 2009

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

An early sample of a French New Wave "whodunit" from Claude Chabrol.

Rated: B

Feb 2, 2006

Full Review

Read all reviews

Audience Member

This was one of Chabrol's first films. Like with so many early steps into the realm of film directing (cf. Mean Streets by Scorsese and, in a sense, Le deuxiÃ¨me souffle by Melville), one might say that Chabrol managed to scratch together his favourite ingredients, but has not quite managed to bake the perfect cake from them yet. A double tour depicts the ugly truth beneath the glamourous service of the French gentry of the time, but the film's structure is unbalanced. Chabrol spends far too much time on scene setting (Belmondo acting like the clown - always a pleasure), and far too little on the murder (we don't even get to see the corps, except in a flashback once the truth is revealed) and the disentanglement of the mystery. Still, it is amusing enough to watch with good old (or should I say: young) Bebel, some lovely pictures of Aix-en-provence and its surroundings, and all that in colour as early as 1959.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Sassy little French soap opera.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I like Jean-Paul Belmondo and Bernadette Lafont and in this movie they did a wonderful job of acting the parts of the eccentric side characters. The main story, about a well to do French family dealing with the philanderings of the husband father, draws you in to the suspense laid out in the opening death scene. Also, the scene where the husband verbally destroys his wife is shocking and at the same time moving in its intensity. In French, and directed by Claude Chabrol, the whole movie definitely carries a feeling of Alfred Hitchcock throughout and the very creepy son is like a foreshadow of Norman Bates in the 1960 Hitchcock movie psycho. A good murder movie with an interesting creepy side to it, I would definitely recommend this movie.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Belmondo annoys Hateful characters get killed Unrefined Chabrol

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Not the most accomplished Claude Chabrol film, but as an early effort it's pretty good. Chabrol's first film in colour, plus his first look at the bourgeoisie and first venture into the psychological thriller genre which he would later become known for. Adding to this list of firsts is Jean-Paul Belmondo's major screen debut. Probably more of interest to Chabrol fans rather than your average viewer.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Un vieux et trÃ¨s bon Chabrol, vu grÃ¢ce aux soirÃ©es "60's" sur Arte !

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Claude Chabrol

Director

Jean-Paul Belmondo

Laszlo Kovacs

Madeleine Robinson

Thérèse Marcoux

Jacques Dacqmine

Henri Marcoux

Bernadette Lafont

Julie, the maid

Andre Jocelyn

Richard Marcoux

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

View more photos

Synopsis

Murder follows a married Frenchman's bold affair with his next-door neighbor.

Director: Claude Chabrol
Producer: Raymond Hakim, Robert Hakim
Screenwriter: Paul Gégauff
Distributor: Times Film Corporation
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: French (Canada)
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 18, 1961, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 25, 2017
Runtime: 1h 41m

Most Popular at Home Now