CHABROL'S UNE AFFAIRE DE FEMMES

Chabrol's Une Affaire de femmes

Chabrol's Une Affaire de femmes

Introduction

Hypocrisy is constant or sporadic attitude of pretending beliefs, opinions, virtues, feelings, qualities, or standards. The hypocrisy itself is a kind of lie. Unfortunately, the masterful hypocrisy of Vichy government's politics had devastating impact on livelihoods of the poor, especially on the women of that time. While the government of Vichy claimed to be the first in the world to have moral and religious values but they were the ones who highly possessed hypocritical behaviour with respect to women. Author Miller through his several essay and obituaries reminded us of his gaze on moral hypocrisy. According to him Vichy regime certainly ranks as one of the most significant gruesomely lethal example of hypocrisy especially with respect to women (VIRGILI, 2002). The hypocrisy of Vichy regime can be seen in Claude Chabrol film (Une Affaire de femmes). In this paper we are going to mainly talk about his film “Une affaire de femmes” which was released in 1988. We choose this film because thus film it provides effective reflection on the topic of hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of Vichy regime. The paper will discuss how Chabrol's Une Affaire de femmes have reflected the Vichy regime's ruthless hypocrisy with respect to women. There are various scenes in the film which reflect the hypocrisy of French government with respect to women.

Before going into the detail we would briefly introduce the director and writer of the film. Claude Chabrol was born in Paris on June 24, 1930 and died in September 2010. He laid the foundation of modern cinema worldwide. Claude Chabrol was one of the founders of the New Wave film that was revolutionized the late 50s and 60s (James, 1976, 253). Chabrol is considered as the inventor of inspirational movies, rich and deeply human. Claude Chabrol produced an immense body of work particularly inspiring today is considered a monument to French cinema. His films focused on the French bourgeoisie, eliminating the facade of respectability to reveal hypocrisy, violence and hatred (Austin, 1999, 52). Among his major films include Les Biches (1968), La Femme infidele (1969), La Rupture (1970) and Merci pour le chocolat (2000), with actress Isabelle Huppert, one of his favourites. In 1988, the actress starred in another film by French director, "Une affaire de femmes" (SCULLION, 1996).

Summary

Une affaire de femmes (also known as A Matter of women or women's issue) is a French film directed by Claude Chabrol released in 1988. It is a script adapted from the book by Francis Szpiner. It is based on the true story of Marie-Louise Giraud, who was one of the last women guillotined in France. Isabelle Huppert plays the main role in the film. In this film Marie was a woman who, during the time of the Second World War, was involved in clandestine abortion practice in a town of France, the government of that time was occupied by the ...