neumu [ cinematronic ]




	The Flower Of Evil
	Claude Chabrol Benoît Magimel, Nathalie Baye, Mélanie Doutey, Suzanne Flon, Bernard Lecoq 2003		The films of respected, prolific French writer/director Claude Chabrol often dance on the fringes of darkness and perversity. One almost wishes that "The Flower of Evil" — his relatively reserved perusal of scandal and ancestral guilt plaguing a well-to-do family — was a little darker and more perverse. There are murders and adultery, dirty politics and whiffs of incest, but it all seems so refined. When lawyer François Vasseur (Benoît Magimel) returns to his hometown in the Bordeaux region of France after four years in the United States, he discovers that some things have changed and some haven't. His stepmother, Anne (Nathalie Baye), is running for mayor in a contentious election; and his philandering father Gérard (Bernard Lecoq), who married Anne, his brother's wife, after both of their spouses died in an automobile accident, has expanded the family's pharmacy. But François is attracted to his sexy younger stepsister Michèle (Mélanie Doutey), as he was before he left for America; and their great-aunt Line (Suzanne Flon) is still carrying the burden of a family tragedy that occurred during World War II. The performers are impeccable. Although Chabrol ties most of the plot lines together, "The Flower of Evil" doesn't fully bloom.