Les Biches (1968)

Vacuous film. I was ready for a French classic and got a French dud. Talk about wooden acting, a sleep inducing boring plot, and marionette characters that evoke no sympathy or genuine emotion. I've seen student films better than this. Normally, at least one of the characters needs to be likable. I'll give the cook some points for trying. The two gay dudes were simply embarrassing to watch. To think a mature director could think their grade school shtick was humorous in any way, shape or form is astounding. I only gave 3 stars because some of the cinematography was nice and the ladies were quite fashionable. That's about the best I can say about it: a very trite fashion piece.

I can't help but think of this movie as a send up of the famous Abbott and Costello routine: Who's on First. The odd naming of the female character, 'Why,' who scores with the architect before her mentor is a perfect start. Why's on first, and the What makes it all the way home. The picture is ambiguous to a fault. Event the title is ambiguous. Did the film maker mean Bad Girls, baby deer, bitches, or just us girls. If it were not for the beauty of the female leads, the gorgeous setting of St. Tropez, the movie would be a total bore, about characters who can't show you who they are because they don't know themselves. The most I could make of it is that it's about a control freak who runs a menagerie of people for her amusement to fill an unfulfilled life until one day one of the wild animals gets lose to put an end to the zoo. The secondary characters, supposedly two amusing gay men, were so annoying that it stretches the imagination to see how the zoo keeper would have them around. Let's write it off as a travelogue of a hot spot on the Riviera.

Although comparisons to Hitchcock are inevitable (and perhaps deserved), Chabrol's best films have an ethereal quality and a unique approach to the storytelling that's all his. In many ways, although coming in the late stages of what is considered by many Chabrol's transitional phase (which I sometimes think is a polite way to say 'Chabrol went daft on us and decided he was a glossy espionage thriller sort'), "Les Biches" is reminiscent of some of Chabrol's early films, including the ones which were key to the development of the French New Wave. There's a lot of that in this film, with its off-kilter approach and unconventional editing, a pleasant surprise coming after the glossy, typical murder-mystery that was "The Champagne Murders". This film fits perfectly with Chabrol the auteur's style, ideology, and storytelling method (focusing heavily on the characters), and it's nice to see him craft such a visually remarkable film after the disappointments that preceded.Before going further into the visual aspects of the film I'd like to address the script. In short, it's great. It's the sort of thing that could have so easily been a heinously atrocious melodrama or a cheap skin flick (which, as the film involves bisexuality, is unsurprisingly how it was marketed in the US), but is so intelligently-written and well-developed that it works tremendously well. Most importantly, of course, the characters are complex and interesting enough to carry the first half of the film, before the strange relationships between the three main characters come to the forefront and Chabrol relentlessly builds the sexual tension and suspense all the way through to the film's excellent final scene. The visuals are unquestionably Chabrol. The direction is highly controlled and the camera is rarely still, and even then a zoom is almost expected. With most other directors this would almost feel impatient and unnecessary but Chabrol is always able to use the technique to his advantage, using the motion evocatively and reflecting the nature of the film's events, and this also means that stillness can be used to great effect (as it is in a key scene in around the hour and twenty minute mark). The cinematography by Jean Rabier (Cléo de 5 à 7) is excellent and doubtlessly influenced heavily by Chabrol, who frequently favors muted colors, especially pastels, and understated use of sunlight. The choreography of the camera movement and those in front of the camera is of far more interest than the photography, however, and may even be a nuisance to some viewers as the movement of the characters is often very contrived and even unnatural to create a particular sort of shot composition. These scenes achieve a sort of gracefulness that ultimately works in favor of the film stylistically, but realists and naturalists might be upset."Les Biches" is one of Chabrol's better sixties films, a taut, suspenseful drama that should be approached without any specific expectations of genre or style. The characters carry the film, and Chabrol's stylish but sophisticated direction keeps the film involving and gripping, allowing the viewer a rare bit of comfort now and then before raising the tension again. 9/10

The first time I saw this movie I liked it. The second time I thought Ho hum, the third time (OK I am practicing my French and I remembered this as a movie with a pretty clear sound track) I loved it.It starts slow, a bit weird, but the intensity between the women works as the scene plays out and really starts to cook when they get to St. Tropez, but Frédérique is just too spoiled to know a good thing when she sees it and blows it.Chabrol shows us just how stupid we can be when we don't know what we are doing, or just how much in love we are and how much stupider we get when jealousy sets in.Stéphane Audran is just so cold and yet so vulnerable.This one may get a fourth viewing yet, putting it in league with Chabrol's Le Boucher (One of THE BEST ever) and Casablanca.