LES NOCES ROUGES/Wedding in Blood (1973)

Even as an avowed Chabrol fan I found this an odd one. The story and setting are vintage Chabrol - sex, murder and betrayal among the bourgeoisie of rural France. My problem was with the depiction of the affair between the two leads. The performances seem far to broad to me, to the extent that their frantic embrasses and groping seemed almost comical. Indeed, for a short while, I began to suspect that Chabrol was making a black comedy. I am loathe to blame the performers (Michel Piccoli and Stephane Audran are fine actors) so I must assume that Chabrol told them to play it that way. Maybe he saw their romance as slightly amusing. But it is Chabrol and even his lesser films (although many don't share my reservations and regard the film very highly) are of interest. The murderers are amateurish and only initially get away with it because of political pressure before fate takes a hand. The characters are too self absorbed to be too sympathetic. Maybe I was missing the point. Rating ***