La Cérémonie, trailer

Claude Chabrols fortyninth feature stands as the crowning achievement of his prolific career a coolly riveting study of class dynamics, the psychology of crime, and the sordid secrets lurking beneath the veneer of everyday life. A fascinatingly enigmatic, César Awardwinning Isabelle Huppert is the chaotic yin to Sandrine Bonnaires tightly coiled yang. They are, respectively, a smalltown postal worker and a maid to a wealthy family, a pair of outsiders who form a mysterious alliance that gradually, almost imperceptibly, goes haywire. With a masters control of sound, editing, and suspense, Chabrol constructs a tour de force of sustained tension that delivers each brilliant shock with icepick precision. directed by Claude Chabrol, 1995