Le Beau Serge
Screening on Film
Directed by Claude Chabrol.
With Jean-Claude Brialy, Gérard Blain, Bernadette Lafont.
France, 1958, 16mm, black & white, 97 min.
French with English subtitles.
With Jean-Claude Brialy, Gérard Blain, Bernadette Lafont.
France, 1958, 16mm, black & white, 97 min.
French with English subtitles.
Surprisingly little known for a film widely regarded as the first of the Nouvelle Vague, Le Beau Serge was the debut feature of twenty-eight-year-old critic Claude Chabrol. A theology student, suffering from tuberculosis, returns to his native village to discover that his talented childhood friend Serge has become a hopeless drunk, estranged from his pregnant wife. A deeply felt drama that explores male friendship and commitment, Le Beau Serge is rich in details of provincial life. It was shot entirely on location in the village of Sardent, where Chabrol spent much of his childhood.
