I Wasn't Born to Have a Bad Time

The Bridesmaid / La Demoiselle D'Honneur
(Claude Chabrol, France/Germany/Italy, 2004, 35mm, 111 mins.)

"The family is one of the biggest frauds ever invented...the family
tree is a monstrous invention. People boasting of one of their
ancestors being the Pope's official mustard-supplier! It's pathetic!"
-- Claude Chabrol on family life

*****

Claude Chabrol is often compared to Alfred Hitchcock. It's an analogy that
makes perfect sense. Like his British predecessor, the French director works
in the suspense genre, and he's a master at his craft. But while I don't mean to suggest that Hitchcock didn't have a sense of humor—he did, of course, and quite
a sly one at that—Chabrol's films are funnier. Not everyone picks up on that. Those who don't must surely see the man as a pale imitation of Sir Alfred. (Their loss.)

At the press screening, for instance, the audience was as silent as the grave, except for two jokers in front (one of whom was me). Sure, Chabrol's humor is perverse—
but that's what I like best about it. I think that's also why it flies under the radar
of the more literal-minded. Or to be more charitable, it may not be to their taste.

As for The Bridesmaid, it isn't Chabrol's best film, but it may be the funniest (and
his movies are always worth watching). No one would confuse it for a comedy, but there are humorous bits throughout, most revolving around a family bust [above].

The fact that the entire cast plays the material straight adds to the enjoyment.
In short, Phillipe (Benoît Magimel, who appears in Chabrol's The Flower of Evil)
lives with his widowed mother, Christine (the ever-radiant Aurore Clément), and
two sisters. The eldest, Sophie, is engaged to be married. No one in the world of
this film questions why a man in his 30s, with a decent job, would still be living at home, but it's suggested that he's more like a husband to his mother than a son.

Though theirs isn't a physically incestuous relationship, there's something vaguely creepy about it, like the proprietary looks Phillipe often throws Christine or the
way they stand so close together when they speak that they practically touch.

Into this hothouse environment enters the enigmatic, Iceland-born Senta (Laura Smet), a last-minute bridesmaid at Sophie's raucous wedding (they barely know
each other). Phillipe and Senta take an instant shine to each other, and he starts spending all his time at her dank basement pad. It's clear to everyone that something isn't quite right with Senta, who claims to be an actress/model. Phillipe doesn't seem to care, though he does hide the relationship from his family.

One day, pace Strangers on a Train, Senta suggests Phillipe kill to prove his love
for her. She'll do the same for him. He's horrified by the idea, and doesn't plan
to follow through, but he's concerned Senta will. And who's to say she hasn't
asked this particular favor from a lover before—or that she won't do so again?

The end of the film, when it arrives, is disconcertingly abrupt. Any other director
of a psychological thriller, even Hitchcock, would build to a bigger, more dramatic climax, but that's not the Chabrol way. As usual, he raises more questions than
he answers, but the somewhat inconclusive conclusion makes sense in retrospect. This is Chabrol's second Ruth Rendell adaptation after La Cérémonie (1995). While that one may be the superior effort, The Bridesmaid is more fun. Sexier, too.

*****

"I prefer people to say that it [The Bridesmaid] reminds them of Hitchcock but that it's not as good than for them to say that it reminds them of a film by Alan Smithee."
-- Claude Chabrol on comparisons to Hitch

The Bridesmaid plays the Northwest Film Forum Oct. 27-Nov. 2, Fri.-Thurs.,
at 7 and 9:30pm. The NWFF is located at 1515 12th Ave. on Capitol Hill
between Pike and Pine. For more information, please click here. You can
also call 206-329-2629 for general info and 206-267-5380 for show times.