In the eighties, Claude Chabrol's career oscillated between fiascoes including "le Cheval d'Orgueil" (1980), "le Cri du Hibou (1987) and successes that encompassed "Masques" (1987) and the duo of investigations led by Inspector Lavardin with Poulet au Vinaigre (1985) and the eponymous title (1986). The popularity garnered by the two films prompted Chabrol to launch a TV series devoted to this singular character. Thus, l'Escargot Noir was the first of four installments released on French TV in September 1988.
In the small, lovely town of Chinon, women are murdered with black snails on their skins and Lavardin has to find the culprit, flanked by his assistant Mario. Although it's a modest TV movie, Chabrol remains faithfull to the thematic features he developped throughout his copious filmography (Mario even nods to a Chabrol movie: the Unfaithful Wife,1969), beginning with the backdrop. Chinon is a beautiful, provincial town so it's a falsely reasurring scenery for the filmmaker to achieve two goals: to tell a classy serial killer tale and for many concerned characters to reveal dark secrets. Through the look of a whodunit with its clues and logical progression, Chabrol has evident delight in lambasting weird, even neurotic bourgeois characters either it's the chemist or the restaurant owner. Besides, concerning the second one a Chabrol flick wouldn't be complete without the traditional culinary sequence which includes a funny, grim detail: Lavardin and Mario eat .......snails!
At last, once again, Jean Poiret works wonders in his well-known role of a deadpan cop, leading his investigations and resolving them through unconventional manners. The cast also includes secondary familiar faces coming from both Chabrol's world and French cinema: Mario David, ex Mrs Chabrol, Stephane Audran, Roger Carel. In the end, a virtually cinematographic pleasure emanates from a simple TV movie which is no small feat considering the shoestring budget Chabrol had at his disposal and it beats hands down several of his half-baked flicks.
Chinon is a beautiful, small town I visited many times. So, it was touching to see familiar places in a story straddling several sub-genres in the detective movie. And Chabrol didn't lie to his reputation by spending some time with Jean Poiret in the restaurants of the town.
In the small, lovely town of Chinon, women are murdered with black snails on their skins and Lavardin has to find the culprit, flanked by his assistant Mario. Although it's a modest TV movie, Chabrol remains faithfull to the thematic features he developped throughout his copious filmography (Mario even nods to a Chabrol movie: the Unfaithful Wife,1969), beginning with the backdrop. Chinon is a beautiful, provincial town so it's a falsely reasurring scenery for the filmmaker to achieve two goals: to tell a classy serial killer tale and for many concerned characters to reveal dark secrets. Through the look of a whodunit with its clues and logical progression, Chabrol has evident delight in lambasting weird, even neurotic bourgeois characters either it's the chemist or the restaurant owner. Besides, concerning the second one a Chabrol flick wouldn't be complete without the traditional culinary sequence which includes a funny, grim detail: Lavardin and Mario eat .......snails!
At last, once again, Jean Poiret works wonders in his well-known role of a deadpan cop, leading his investigations and resolving them through unconventional manners. The cast also includes secondary familiar faces coming from both Chabrol's world and French cinema: Mario David, ex Mrs Chabrol, Stephane Audran, Roger Carel. In the end, a virtually cinematographic pleasure emanates from a simple TV movie which is no small feat considering the shoestring budget Chabrol had at his disposal and it beats hands down several of his half-baked flicks.
Chinon is a beautiful, small town I visited many times. So, it was touching to see familiar places in a story straddling several sub-genres in the detective movie. And Chabrol didn't lie to his reputation by spending some time with Jean Poiret in the restaurants of the town.
