Now is the winter of our discontent... TVOntario's Chaine francaise is having a Chabrol retrospective in February and March; we have already seen La route de Corinthe (silly spy caper only made bearable by Jean Seberg's presence) and Les biches (could have been made for a glossy decor magazine; the trite lesbian coupling is never believable). Now we have La decade prodigieuse (Ten Day's Wonder).
The chateau reflects the Twenties and the elegance of the Jazz Age, but the costumes were ridiculous. Tony Perkins in plus-fours and a ridiculous cap is not in tune with Jay Gatsby: in fact he looks like a regular at a really foppish gay bar. Marlene Jobert's costumes are those of a convent school product. Orson Welles has been fitted with a fake nose that's a really awful greenish color; otherwise he looks the way he used to in those Paul Masson commercials.
A murder mystery that can't create atmosphere, or creates the wrong kind, is never successful. Tsilla Chelton, so wonderful in Tatie Danielle, has a cameo as Perkins's mother: she does a Mrs. Rochester impression that makes you believe she's going to burn the house down. The blackmail payments are confusing and badly handled. The strong hints of pedophilia in the Welles-Jobert marriage seem to come from another film.
Chabrol is a lazy filmmaker whose vast output--just look at all the entries in his filmography--indicates efficiency rather than talent. He'll give you a rare good film (Les cousins) amid lots of schlock.
