Claude Chabrol traces the sordid and sad trajectory of Nazi-occupied France during World War II through the tragic, tumble-down journey of one woman. Isabelle Hupert plays Marie, a young woman with two children who has carved out a life for herself during her husbands absence, barely... [More]

Claude Chabrol traces the sordid and sad trajectory of Nazi-occupied France during World War II through the tragic, tumble-down journey of one woman. Isabelle Hupert plays Marie, a young woman with two children who has carved out a life for herself during her husbands absence, barely managing to feed her children, gleaning some happiness from jukeboxes and girlfriends, and by performing an occasional amateur abortion for her neighbors. When her shell-shocked husband returns from the labor camps, Marie takes matters into her own hands and turns her skills into a booming abortion business, boarding prostitute friends on the side and taking a collaborator for a lover. While Chabrol details Marie's descent into amorality with brutal honesty, he nonetheless contextualizes her sins and shows her truly as a victim of the chaos of France's confused response to Nazi occupation. [Less]