L'Enfer |  | Director: Claude Chabrol
Actors: Emmanuelle Béart, François Cluzet, Nathalie Cardone, André Wilms, Marc Lavoine
Studio: Fox Lorber
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
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Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 29490
Format: Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: French (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 0
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 100 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 1572522739
UPC: 720917502625
EAN: 9781572522732
ASIN: 1572522739
Theatrical Release Date: November 1994
Release Date: June 10, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
Paul (François Cluzet) and Nelly (Emmanuelle Béart) have what seems to be a storybook marriage. They love each other madly and have worked together to turn their little lakeside inn into a gorgeous resort getaway while raising an adorable son. But there's a problem: Paul is convinced Nelly is having an affair and his jealousy spins to insane proportions. Hallucinations and nightmares twist his dementia until he imagines her sleeping with every man in sight, and his obsessive spying turns Nelly's life into a living hell. Claude Chabrol (director of La Cérémonie, known as the Gallic Hitchcock for his cool thrillers of obsessive love and homicidal passion, created his film from an original unfilmed screenplay by Henri-George Clouzot (Les Diaboliques). He injects Clouzot's dark, misanthropic tale with a soupçon of Hitchcock's voyeuristic obsession, but ultimately makes the film his own with unexpected sympathy for Paul, whose pathological jealousy spins out of control in a chilling conclusion that leaves the viewers uncomfortably nestled in his madness. The film faced charges of misogyny upon release largely because Chabrol remained steadfast in his portrayal of Paul not as a monster but a victim of madness (somewhat at the expense of Nelly, an angelic sexpot whose loyalty and love is almost sacrificial), but ultimately that's what gives L'Enfer its unsettling power. --Sean Axmaker
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
 Hommage to Krzysztof Kieslowski November 29, 2008
F. E. Halaburt (Newton Center, MA USA)
Because of the K.K. relationship I went to a fair amount of trouble to obtain this (my copy is Region 2, PAL, whereas I am Region 1, NTSC). The story-line seemed to have great possibilities, and it would indeed have been wonderful to see what K.K. would have done with it. But try as he did, Danis Tanovic's rendition leaves a lot to be desired. One of the most bizarre elements in the film is the hair on Carole Bouquet. Part that really brought a smile to my old face: the old lady shuffling up to the waste disposal to put a bottle in (K.K. lovers will understand). Wish I could recommend, but no.
Where was Piaf when we needed her?
 Love it April 24, 2008
London O. Cromwell (sandusky ohio)
Love this movie, it's so weird. Anybody who is psychotically jealous, or has been with anyone jealous, can relate to this movie.
Is that all there is? January 23, 2008
Trevor Willsmer (London, England)
Despite an impressive pedigree, Danis Tanovic's adaptation of an unfilmed Kieslowski script L'Enfer feels like a shaggy dog story at times despite some good scenes and at least one powerful moment with some overheard lovemaking. The story doesn't stand up to too much scrutiny, following the lives of three sisters who have lost touch but are still linked by the emotional fallout of their father's suicide while they were still children. The youngest, Marie Gillain, is having an affair with her own father figure (Jacques Perrin), the father of her best friend; the middle sister, Emmanuelle Beart, is in the dying days of a failed marriage to a philandering photographer (Jacques Gamblin); while the oldest, Karen Viard, is an emotional shut-in looking after their wheelchair bound mother (Carole Bouquet, particularly unconvincing in old age makeup and a terrible silver wig) and possibly being romanced by an equally socially awkward Guillaume Canet.
As they all suffer in their private hells, made worse by slight glimmers of hope, the truth about their father's prison sentence for seducing a young male student finally comes to light, leading to... well, not very much, really. Once the not very surprising cat is out of the bag, the film doesn't really know what to make of its rather underwhelming revelation. The punchline is a song title, though when it's delivered you might find yourself thinking Is That All There Is? may have been a better choice.
The presence of Emmanuelle Beart, increasingly a monument to France's collagen and silicon industries as she unwittingly turns into a Tex Avery cartoon, almost sounds a warning note: this is her second film called L'Enfer after Chabrol's misfired 1994 of an unfilmed Henri-Georges Clouzot script. It's hard not to feel that the reason both projects never saw the light of projector with their original creators was because ultimately there wasn't quite enough there to justify the effort. Certainly there's the feeling that Kieslowski's reputation has assembled a more formidable array of talent than the same material from an unknown source would have done. In some ways, the impressive cast occasionally threaten to swamp the film. While it's always a pleasure you see Jean Rochefort, his casting in a bit part adds nothing to the movie but more weight of expectation that remains unfulfilled: he really has nothing much to do. Indeed, it's significant that it's Georges Siatidis' smitten train conductor who leaves the most lasting impression in a minuscule role rather than any of the heavyweights. It's by no means a terrible film, and it certainly holds the attention en route to its anticlimax.
Do you regret your past? December 16, 2007
Ricardo Garcia Mainou (Queretaro, Mx)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is the second movie Krzysztof Kieslowski had to direct but didn't. Part of his so-called legacy, a planned trilogy with his friend and co-writer Krzysztof Piesiewicz.
The first was the extraordinary "Heaven" by Tom Tykwer, which was closer to a finished script.
Hell is an amazing film. Daniel Tanovic forgot the inevitable foreign language winner destiny of slumming in Hollywood for a big budget crap film, and instead, went for the difficult task of making an homage to the master polish director, and at the same time putting his personal seal on the work.
"Hell" is both. Tanovic's direction is brilliant. Almost as if Kieslowski himself was wondering on the set with his cigarette in hand. The whole precept of the story is the past, its secrets and how they determine our lives (or the three sisters' lives). A whole discussion about faith, destiny and coincidence goes on around the whole movie, setting up the piece and mindset of the viewer. This is a bit less subtle than Kieslowski himself would do it, but works nevertheless thanks to the amazing performances on all the cast.
Tanovic placing of the camera is faultless, his transitions between the stories are sometimes dazzling, and his use of music had so perfect timing it gave me goose-bumps more than once.
As, in Three Colors: White, "Hell" finishes with a bang (don't worry I won't spoil it), a single phrase that hits us in the face.
This is one wonderful art film that deserves a better DVD edition, in the meanwhile we can watch and submerge in its deep dark guilt trip.
Wonderful.
A choice piece of Cinematic presentation March 19, 2004
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful piece of work. It makes you tingle they way in which jealosy is portrayed as a person living in fear, anger and desperation. The iterview and commentary from the the director was also profound.One of the best films I've ever seen.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
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