L'Enfer (1994)

Synopsis: Claude Chabrol's L'ENFER is the story of a good marriage that turns sour when obsessive jealousy takes hold of a loving husband, turning him into a violent, paranoid tyrant. In this tense and riveting drama, originally written by master French director Henri-Georges Clouzot (LES... Claude Chabrol's L'ENFER is the story of a good marriage that turns sour when obsessive jealousy takes hold of a loving husband, turning him into a violent, paranoid tyrant. In this tense and riveting drama, originally written by master French director Henri-Georges Clouzot (LES DIABOLIQUES), Paul (Francois Cluzet), the hardworking owner of a beautiful hotel, begins to hear voices in his head convincing him that his wife Nelly (Emmanuelle Beart) is being unfaithful. The glorious romance and bliss of their early days of marriage is swiftly replaced by Paul's incoherent and obsessive fantasies about Nelly's infidelity. As the pace and severity of Paul's delusions increase, so does the tension and drama of the film, as tragedy looms in the distance. The hotel, once the spot of married bliss and harmony, quickly becomes Nelly's prison, as Paul accuses Nelly's friends of encouraging her supposed flings and forbids her to see them. With his hysterical ravings, he prevents Nelly from leaving the premises. Chabrol's use of Paul's interior monologues and delusionary projections creates a terrifying gap between fantasy and reality, and leaves the fate of the desperate and troubled lovers in question, even at the end of the film. [More]