Follows a family man who meets women through lonely-hearts ads.Follows a family man who meets women through lonely-hearts ads.Follows a family man who meets women through lonely-hearts ads.
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
934
YOUR RATING
- Director
- Writer
- Françoise Sagan(scenario)
- Stars
Top credits
- Director
- Writer
- Françoise Sagan(scenario)
- Stars
- Director
- Writer
- Françoise Sagan(scenario) (dialogue)
- All cast & crew
- See more cast details at IMDbPro
Storyline
France, WWI. Landru, the father of four children, contacts Parisian women through newspaper ads, seduces and eventually kills them. —Vincent Merlaud <merlaud@studi.mathematik.hu-berlin.de>
- Taglines
- His women always meet their match!
- Genres
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaDuring the shooting of the movie, producer Carlo Ponti was so appalled by Stéphane Audran's performance that he asked 'who's that slut who's playing Fernande?' Director Claude Chabrol (who was already engaged to Audran) slapped Ponti in the face and screamed 'that's my woman!' The director and the actress married one year later.
- Quotes
Presiding judge: Tell us what you know about Andrée Babelet.
- ConnectionsFeatured in My Journey Through French Cinema (2016)
Top review
True to the facts but dull
Faithful - but uninspired - account of the notorious Landru case, which swept over post WWWI France.
The film follows the facts closely, from Henri Désiré Landru's "family life", seductions and murders to his trial and execution. Well if your objective was to get the main details of a famous serial murder case you will be satisfied. However a film lover could have expected something more fiery, more intense, more unsettling from Claude Chabrol than just that.
To tell the truth there is more to this movie than...just that. Indeed there are good production values, fine colours, slightly stylized settings and a stellar cast. Nevertheless, I couldn't help stifling a yawn now and then.
Why so? Maybe because such great ladies as Danielle Darrieux, Michèle Morgan, Mary Marquet, or Hildegard Knef are given almost nothing to do.Only Stéphane Audran stands out in the part of Landru's naïve young mistress, Fernande.
Charles Denner, on the other hand, oddly directed by Chabrol, is a physical lookalike of the "sieur de Gambais" but fails to deliver both charm and terror.
It looks as though Claude Chabrol ,who is so at ease with what I would call "domestic" monsters ( Jean Yanne in "Le Boucher" and "Que la Bête meure", Michel Bouquet in "La Femme infidèle" and several others )was petrified by his cold-hearted, cynical monster, with absolutely no redeeming features. He did not manage to bring life to his character.
Landru, too monstrous a monster , even for Chabrol ?
The film follows the facts closely, from Henri Désiré Landru's "family life", seductions and murders to his trial and execution. Well if your objective was to get the main details of a famous serial murder case you will be satisfied. However a film lover could have expected something more fiery, more intense, more unsettling from Claude Chabrol than just that.
To tell the truth there is more to this movie than...just that. Indeed there are good production values, fine colours, slightly stylized settings and a stellar cast. Nevertheless, I couldn't help stifling a yawn now and then.
Why so? Maybe because such great ladies as Danielle Darrieux, Michèle Morgan, Mary Marquet, or Hildegard Knef are given almost nothing to do.Only Stéphane Audran stands out in the part of Landru's naïve young mistress, Fernande.
Charles Denner, on the other hand, oddly directed by Chabrol, is a physical lookalike of the "sieur de Gambais" but fails to deliver both charm and terror.
It looks as though Claude Chabrol ,who is so at ease with what I would call "domestic" monsters ( Jean Yanne in "Le Boucher" and "Que la Bête meure", Michel Bouquet in "La Femme infidèle" and several others )was petrified by his cold-hearted, cynical monster, with absolutely no redeeming features. He did not manage to bring life to his character.
Landru, too monstrous a monster , even for Chabrol ?
helpful•2119
- guy-bellinger
- Oct 30, 2004
Details
- Runtime
- 1h 55min
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1
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