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L'Enfer Details

1993 Certificate 15
  • Rated:
  • 60
  • from 2076 members

Claude Chabrol's L'ENFER is the story of a good marriage that turns sour when obsessive jealousy takes hold of a loving husband, turning him into a violent, paranoid tyrant. In this tense and riveting drama, originally written by master French director Henri-Georges Clouzot (LES DIABOLIQUES), Paul (Francois Cluzet), the .. Read more

Starring Emmanuelle Beart, Francois Cluzet, Andre Wilms, Marc Lavoine
Director Claude Chabrol
Genres Drama, World Cinema

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L'Enfer cover art

L'Enfer

Claude Chabrol's L'ENFER is the story of a good marriage that turns sour when obsessive jealousy takes hold of a loving husband, turning him into a violent, paranoid tyrant. In this tense and riveting drama, originally written by master French director Henri-Georges Clouzot (LES DIABOLIQUES), Paul (Francois Cluzet), the hardworking owner of a beautiful hotel, begins to hear voices in his head convincing him that his wife Nelly (Emmanuelle Beart) is being unfaithful. The glorious romance and bliss of their early days of marriage is swiftly replaced by Paul's incoherent and obsessive fantasies about Nelly's infidelity. As the pace and severity of Paul's delusions increase, so does the tension and drama of the film, as tragedy looms in the distance. The hotel, once the spot of married bliss and harmony, quickly becomes Nelly's prison, as Paul accuses Nelly's friends of encouraging her supposed flings and forbids her to see them. With his hysterical ravings, he prevents Nelly from leaving the premises. Chabrol's use of Paul's interior monologues and delusionary projections creates a terrifying gap between fantasy and reality, and leaves the fate of the desperate and troubled lovers in question, even at the end of the film.

Starring Emmanuelle Beart, Francois Cluzet, Andre Wilms, Marc Lavoine, Nathalie Cardone, Mario David, Jean-Pierre Cassel
Director Claude Chabrol
Studio SECOND SIGHT FILMS LTD.
Run time DVD: 1 hr 38 mins
Certificate Certificate 15
Genres Drama, World Cinema
Language DVD: French
Subtitles DVD: English
Released DVD: 07 Jul 2003
Production year: 1993
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (2) of L'Enfer

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  • 3 stars out of 5

    L'Enfer, or Hell, began in 1964 as a movie starring Romy Schneider and Serge Reggiani and directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, creator of The Wages of Fear and Les Diaboliques. Shortly after shooting started, Reggiani quit through illness and then Clouzot himself was felled by a heart attack. The movie never resumed production and, after Clouzot's death in 1977, his widow passed the project on to Chabrol. It's a story about pathological jealousy, acted to the hilt by the sensuous and possibly two-timing Emmanuelle Béart, whose character is married to seething hotel owner François Cluzet. Things get seriously out of control, tipping the picture quickly into the realm of black comedy. Not one of Chabrol's best movies, but still good fun.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006

  • Paul (Cluzet) is charming, attractive, hard-working; Nelly (Béart) is beautiful and carefree, devoted to her husband... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
    • Posted 04 Nov 2008

  • Most helpful member's review of L'Enfer

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  • 19 out of 20 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    Throwing it all away

    This is by all accounts an accurate depiction of the breakdown of a marriage caused by paranoia.

    It will appeal to connoisseurs of that genre although quite honestly it didn't appeal to me.

    Paul (François Cluzet) and Nelly (Emmanuelle Béart) have an idyllic marriage, it would seem. They're deeply in love, they have their child, they run a lovely lakeside hotel in southern France: they have it all. But Paul becomes jealous, and this, it becomes clear in the Chabrol script,is a clinical illness which needs treating.

    Which of us, faced with this situation, could identify this so clearly? At first they don't know what they're dealing with. Before the end of the film, it is apparent that Nelly has had one dust-up too many, and she seeks help. If Chabrol's the name, don't expect easy solutions.

    I would say it was an excellent film. with good acting and superlative feel-good photography. As to whether it might appeal to you, I'd hope this review might help a little.

      • RustyT from Dorset
      • Posted 20 May 2004 07:48

  • Most recent members' review of L'Enfer

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  • 2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    funky french

    good film about a man who is convinced his wife is having an affair.very heavy going but worthwhile.

      • david campbell from scotland
      • Posted 05 Mar 2005 15:09

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      Claude Chabrol's L'ENFER is the story of a good marriage that turns sour when obsessive jealousy takes hold of a loving husband, turning him into a violent, paranoid tyrant. In this tense and riveting drama, originally written by master French director Henri-Georges Clouzot (LES DIABOLIQUES), Paul (...