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The Butcher
The Butcher
7.8
/10
1,544 Ratings

THE BUTCHER

Le boucher

Directed by Claude Chabrol
France, Italy, 1970
Drama, Thriller

Synopsis

Helene, a beautiful but lonely school teacher in a small French town, finds a kindred spirit in the local butcher, Popaul, who has returned from a 15-year spell in the army. However, as some women of the town fall victim to a brutal serial killer, Helene begins to suspect her new found companion.

Synopsis

Helene, a beautiful but lonely school teacher in a small French town, finds a kindred spirit in the local butcher, Popaul, who has returned from a 15-year spell in the army. However, as some women of the town fall victim to a brutal serial killer, Helene begins to suspect her new found companion.

Our take

One of Claude Chabrol’s best known film The Butcher is as much a crime drama as a complex romance, permeated by the terrors of colonial wars and the cruelty of everyday appearances. Reminiscent of Hitchcock and Lang, and with an extra sense of social malaise and ominous suspense hanging over it all.