The Unfaithful Wife
The Pleasure Party
Claude Chabrol explores the toll of infidelity in two of his best mid-career works. In The Unfaithful Wife, a man suspects his wife is cheating and hires a private detective to follow her. After his fears are confirmed and he is driven to murder, his wife develops a new interest in their once passionless marriage. Chabrol collaborated with his longtime friend, screenwriter Paul Gégauff on the semi-autobiographical The Pleasure Party. Gégauff stars along with his wife Danielle (who divorced him after the film’s completion) as a man who compels his spouse to explore relationships with other lovers, until he becomes violently jealous. In a morbid epilogue to the film’s production, Gégauff was stabbed to death by his second wife in 1983.
PROGRAM
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The Unfaithful Wife (La femme infidèle)
Directed by Claude Chabrol.
With Stephane Audran, Michel Bouquet, Maurice Ronet.
France, 1969, 35mm, color, 100 min.
French with English subtitles.
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The Pleasure Party (Une partie de plaisir)
Directed by Claude Chabrol.
With Paul Gégauff, Danielle Gégauff, Paula Moure.
France, 1975, 35mm, color, 98 min.
French with English subtitles.
Part of film series
Screenings from this program
The Single Standard / Carnival in Flanders
Dumbo / He Who Gets Slapped
The Marriage Circle / The Merry Widow
The Cat and the Canary / And Then There Were None
