Blood Relatives details

Format: 18 DVD
Starring: Stephane Audran, Donald Pleasence, Lisa Langlois, Donald Sutherland, David Hemmings, Aude Landry
Director: Claude Chabrol
Genre: Drama
Studio: AMAZON WEB
Name Discs
Blood Relatives
18 Feature

DVD Information

Run time: 1 hour 31 minutes
Rental release: Not currently released
Main languages: English
Hearing impaired subtitles: English
Write your own review

Most helpful review Blood Relatives

  • Good viewing for people who enjoy television

    Rated - 3.0 stars  
    By Matthew Cunningham from London, England , 21 Mar 2005

    [Highly rated reviewer]

    This is an enjoyable TV-grade murder mystery, possibly of interest to people who like programs like Law & Order. It's tempting to say the acting is poor, but to be fair to the actors, it's hard to judge since most of the voices have been dubbed over (despite the fact that the original mouthwork was obviously performed in English)and this could very well be creating the illusion of poor acting. The voice of the girl at the centre of the mystery is particularly bad. She's 14 years old and her voice sounds like a middle-aged woman trying to sound like a young girl. Not only that, the voice over-acts while the body doesn't, and it's all very distracting. It isn't up to Chabrol's usual standard, to say the least. Some European directors seem unable to access their talent when working on an English language production. Have you seen Bergman's 'The Touch'? How embarrassing. It was like a moment of delirium in the middle of an otherwise exemplary career.

    I recommend this film only as a decent murder mystery for people who enjoy that genre on TV.

    If it is measured against Chabrol's other films, it is nothing less than a disaster.
    • Was this review helpful to you?
    • (7) Yes |
    •  No (2)

All reviews

(9)
  • tv

    Rated - 5.0 stars  
    By juradino (811 reviews) from London , 10 Jan 2008

    THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS Show review anywayHide

    girls just wanna have fun
    • Was this review helpful to you?
    • (1) Yes |
    •  No (2)
  • dubious Tales of the Bleeding Obvious

    Rated - 3.0 stars  
    By a customer from NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE , 26 Nov 2007
    Like a couple of other Chabrol films I have seen the conclusion to this one turns out to be a simplistic 'we guessed it from the start' disappointment rather than a complex unexpected. If this film has a theme of any interest then it must be the ambiguites and self-deceptions in the attractions and attentions of middle-aged men towards too young and only just old enough girls..however despite having quality star actors on the cast in these roles they get but little used. Even though it's very obvious what the outcome is going to be the character involved is played in such a way that lends little credibility to this outcome and the one liner explanation from the culprit as the film closes is a major let down.
    • Was this review helpful to you?
    • (1) Yes |
    •  No (0)
  • Relative Disaster

    Rated - 1.0 star  
    By michael stewart from Derbyshire, England. , 09 Nov 2006
    Bad bad bad bad bad. Chabrol, France's king of suspense (supposedly), directs from an adaptation of an Ed McBain 87th Precinct novel. So where'd it go wrong? Right from script stage, with a great big undigestable wodge of flashback towards the end - and IS it flashback, or what's going on in Donald Sutherland's head as he reads the girl's diary? Not the only confusing aspect of this film. Like, was the camaraman drunk? Why does the camera start wavering halfway through shots? And, since Stephanie Audran is/was Claude's missus, didn't he know she couldn't do an American accent adequately? Her performance was spoiled by terrible dubbing - as for the younger performers, there wasn't much performing to spoil, though the dubbing crew did their best. I had no problem with Quebec doubling for McBain's Isola (his parallel universe New York), but somebody should have had a word with Claude about the French language signs in the garage scenes. They just add to the confusion. And what the hell was happening with the music? Was it deliberately intrusive in an attempt to distract from the film's other inadequacies? The non-dubbed PROPER actors - Sutherland, David Hemmings and (too briefly) Donald Pleasance - look out of place on account of being far too good for the grim mish-mash of a film they've somehow found themselves in. And - one last major quibble for McBain fans - Teddy Carella's been a deaf mute since the 1950s, yet here, unaccountably, she's got a full compliment of faculties. Unlike the director. France's Hitchcock? Oh well. Maybe this is Chabrol's 'Topaz'.
    • Was this review helpful to you?
    • (1) Yes |
    •  No (0)
  • Relative Disaster

    Rated - 5.0 stars  
    By michael stewart from Derbyshire, England. , 09 Nov 2006
    Bad bad bad bad bad. Chabrol, France's king of suspense (supposedly), directs from an adaptation of an Ed McBain 87th Precinct novel. So where'd it go wrong? Right from script stage, with a great big undigestable wodge of flashback towards the end - and IS it flashback, or what's going on in Donald Sutherland's head as he reads the girl's diary? Not the only confusing aspect of this film. Like, was the camaraman drunk? Why does the camera start wavering halfway through shots? And, since Stephanie Audran is/was Claude's missus, didn't he know she couldn't do an American accent adequately? Her performance was spoiled by terrible dubbing - as for the younger performers, there wasn't much performing to spoil, though the dubbing crew did their best. I had no problem with Quebec doubling for McBain's Isola (his parallel universe New York), but somebody should have had a word with Claude about the French language signs in the garage scenes. They just add to the confusion. And what the hell was happening with the music? Was it deliberately intrusive in an attempt to distract from the film's other inadequacies? The non-dubbed PROPER actors - Sutherland, David Hemmings and (too briefly) Donald Pleasance - look out of place on account of being far too good for the grim mish-mash of a film they've somehow found themselves in. And - one last major quibble for McBain fans - Teddy Carella's been a deaf mute since the 1950s, yet here, unaccountably, she's got a full compliment of faculties. Unlike the director. France's Hitchcock? Oh well. Maybe this is Chabrol's 'Topaz'.
    • Was this review helpful to you?
    • (1) Yes |
    •  No (1)
  • Very disappointed

    Rated - 1.0 star  
    By gilesh (108 reviews) from portesham , 22 Aug 2006
    I do love this directors other films but thought this was utterly awful! Bad acting, rubbish story, lack luster direction it has nothing going for it at all. Avoid this film.
    • Was this review helpful to you?
    • (1) Yes |
    •  No (0)
 

Agree or disagree? Write your own review

Please sign in to LOVEFiLM to write your review

Sign in to LOVEFiLM

Not a member yet?

Sign up to start your 30-day FREE trial