Lies And Deceit: Five Films By Claude Chabrol (Blu-ray)

Reviewed by Jason Lockard

Claude Chabrol was a prolific French film director. His style was so unique and inspiring that many people dubbed him "the French Hitchcock". Talk about high praise!

Arrow Video has a huge box set of the best Chabrol film in one collection. Lies & deceit: Five Films by Claude Chabrol. Dark, witty, ruthless, mischievous.

Our Rating System:
****=Don’t Miss it!
***=Worth a look.
**=An Ok way to spend an evening.
*=You haven’t missed anything.

Cop Au Vin (1985) In a small provincial French town, Dr Morasseau, Mr Lavoisier and butcher Filiol decide to create a significant estate business but Mrs Cuno and her son Louis do not want to sell their house. Louis presumably provokes the death of Filiol. ***

Inspector Lavardin (1986) Inspector Lavardin is induced to investigate the murder of a province's notable who was taking himself as the moral guardian of his village. The perspective of the inquiry changes when the inspector recognizes the widow as one of his youthful loves. ***

Madame Bovary (1991) In nineteenth-century France, the romantic daughter of a country squire marries a dull country doctor. To escape boredom, she throws herself into love affairs with a suave local landowner and a law student, and runs up ruinous debts. ***

Betty (1992) A drunken self-destructive woman called Betty wanders through bars and meets a man that drives her to a restaurant outside Paris called Le Trou (The Hole). She meets the middle-aged alcoholic Laure from Lyon. Betty tells the story of her bourgeois life and her unhappy marriage to Laure and also recalls moments of her promiscuous life. ***

Torment (1994) Paul and Nelly have everything to be happy: a dream wedding and a hotel. Until Paul starts to doubt Nelly. ***

All five of these films are presented in High definition 1080p. With Brand new 4K restorations for Madame Bovary, Betty, and Torment. There is the original lossless French PCM mono audio on Cop Au Vin, Inspector Lavardin, Madame Bovary and Betty and original lossless French PCM stereo audio on Torment. There is also the option for English Subtitles. All of these film look and sound pretty impressive on Blu-ray.

Now five films in stunning HD would be a great buy for any cinephile. But As we know by now Arrow Video never goes halfway with their releases. They go all in! They load up their Blu-ray sets with tons of bonus features and Lies and Deceit is no different! Take a look at what is included in this Blu-ray set.

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

* Archive introductions to all films by film scholar Joël Magny

* Select scene commentaries for all films by Claude Chabrol

* Theatrical trailers and image galleries for all films

* 80-page collector’s booklet of new writing by film critics Martyn Conterio, Kat Ellinger, Philip Kemp and Sam Wigley, and archive material

* Limited edition packaging with newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella

DISC 1: COP AU VIN

* New commentary by critic Ben Sachs

* New interview with film historian Ian Christie

* Claude Chabrol at the BFI, Chabrol on stage with film historian Ian Christie in 1994

* Claude Chabrol, Jean Poiret & Stephane Audran in conversation, archive Swiss TV episode with director and cast discussing Cop Au Vin

DISC 2: INSPECTOR LAVARDIN

* New commentary by critic Ben Sachs

* Why Chabrol?, new interview with film critic Sam Wigley on why Chabrol remains essential viewing

DISC 3: MADAME BOVARY

* New commentary by critic Kat Ellinger

* Imagining Emma: Madame Bovary on screen, new visual essay by film historian Pamela Hutchinson

DISC 4: BETTY

* New commentary by critic Kat Ellinger

* Betty, from Simenon to Chabrol, new visual essay by French Cinema historian Ginette Vincendeau

* New interview with Ros Schwartz, the English translator of the Georges Simenon novel on which the film is based

DISC 5: TORMENT

* New commentary by critics Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson

* On Henri Georges Clouzot, archival interview with Chabrol about, Clouzot’s abandoned attempt to make L’enfer

* Interview with Marin Karmitz, archive interview with Chabrol’s most frequent producer from 1985 onward

Now admittedly this Blu-ray set will not be for everyone. It would have been nice to have English dubbing to make it easier for all fans to enjoy these films without reading subtitles. But as they say 'you can't have everything.'

If you are a fan of French films this Blu-ray set is going to be right up your alley. It will keep you entertained for days and days as there is so much material to go through. If you would like a copy of Lies and Deceit head over to Amazon and pick up your copy today.