Young provincial Charles arrives in Paris to stay with his cousin Paul while studying law. Paul is a decadent, bohemian pleasure-seeker who shows the meek, diligent Charles the thrills of city life. When Charles falls for Florence, one of Paul's acquaintances, relationships begin to shift.
Direction
Chabrol's debut that announced the New Wave's arrival with a smirk.
Acting
Brialy's Paul — cinema's most charismatic disaster person.
Cinematography
Paris as a character: all neon, rain, and beautiful self-destruction.
Director
Claude Chabrol
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Chabrol and Rohmer co-wrote Hitchcock's book-length study before this, and it shows in every frame.
This won the Golden Bear at Berlin 1959, beating — ironically — a generation of stodgier French cinema it was mocking.
FR
