Co-written by Caroline Eliacheff, Claude Chabrol's La Fleur Du Mal (The Flower of Evil) concerns three generations of the bourgeois Charpin-Vasseur family. The story opens in the present day with a murder occurring during a local election and son Francois (Benoit Magimel) returning home to Bordeaux after four years in the U.S. His father Gerard (Bernard Le Coq) is a suave and successful pharmaceutical manufacturer, while his stepmother Anne (Nathalie Baye) is in the process of running for local
office. Francois has long harbored a strong interest in Anne's daughter, psychology student Michele (Melanie Doutey), and - despite the fact that they are related in various ways - they begin a torrid affair. Then, right before election night, a letter appears, revealing negative information about the family's past concerning the elderly Aunt Line's (Suzanne Flon) connection to a crime dating back to WWII. La Fleur Du Mal was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 2003 Berlin International Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
The strength of this movie is how it starts as a standard whodunit only to become something else: a cunning Chabrol study of incest and old money peppered with a wicked sense of humor.
Chabrol's examination of intergenerational guilt takes awhile to arrive at the station, but the characters and dialogue -- screenplay by Caroline Eliacheff -- are sophisticated and properly witty.
Chabrol has his moments of visual wit ... but mostly The Flower of Evil is a poky and uninvolving thriller of knotted family ties and convoluted histories.
A decent if not completely unremarkable French thriller. It isn't that there's anything wrong with The Flower of Evil, per se, but I feel like I've just spent 100 minutes watching absolutely nothing new. The themes are interesting if not completely broad, the characters are nothing special, and the humor seems oddly
thin. It's a very pretty, expertly acted waste of time.
A rather competent drama, but not spectacular in any way beside the absolute cuteness of Melanie Doutey, who has the sweetest and most loveable smile I ever seen on screen. The incest angle in my opinion is rather weak and sensationalized, as are the murders past and present. This story is more like a mild, luke warm
cup of coffee. I just prefer mine to be stronger and hot. Not a bad watch though
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