Le Boucher (1971)

100% of critics liked it
(7 reviews)
81% of users liked it
(2,206 ratings)

Sexual frustration is the focus of this Hitchcockian thriller from French director Claude Chabrol. Schoolteacher Hélène (Stéphane Audran) comes to a small Périgord village to begin a new job. She is soon romanced by the local butcher, Popaul (Jean Yanne), but is distracted by her job and memories of… More Sexual frustration is the focus of this Hitchcockian thriller from French director Claude Chabrol. Schoolteacher Hélène (Stéphane Audran) comes to a small Périgord village to begin a new job. She is soon romanced by the local butcher, Popaul (Jean Yanne), but is distracted by her job and memories of a previous ill-fated relationship. A series of brutal murders of young women and a dropped cigarette-lighter raise Hélène's suspicions about her suitor, whose pitiable, depraved compulsions lead to a gruesome conclusion. Audran, who was Chabrol's wife at the time, makes an engaging heroine, and Yanne is simultaneously scary and pathetic as the obsessive butcher. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Directed By: Claude Chabrol
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Drama

In Theaters: Dec 19, 1971 Wide
On DVD: Mar 25, 2003
Studio: Euro International Film

Critic Reviews

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Le Boucher has us always thinking.
Douglas Pratt, DVDLaser
In multiple viewings, Chabrol's technique becomes more and more gripping, as every camera angle and every movement within the frame or of the frame appears to comment somehow on the characters, their environment, or on the unrefined core of the human psyc
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
This is Chabrol at his best.

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Featured Audience Ratings

Anthony L

Jean Yanne is a great villain. Although influenced by Hitchcock and constantly compared to him, Chabrol does something here that Hitch never did as successfully; Sympathy for the Devil. The ending is uncompromising and uncomfortable and all the better for it. A great film and… More
Jean Yanne is a great villain. Although influenced by Hitchcock and constantly compared to him, Chabrol does something here that Hitch never did as successfully; Sympathy for the Devil. The ending is uncompromising and uncomfortable and all the better for it. A great film and influential in its own right.
Stella D

a beautiful quiet thriller, simply amazing. every bit as good as hitchcock; very nearly perfect! most romantic serial killer film i've seen lol
Stephen M

"Le Boucher" is more of a study in passive complicity or associative guilt than a murder-mystery, but it's still a difficult movie to write about without spoiling the plot for newcomers, so I'm going to sidestep the problem. It reminds me of a tragic variation on… More
"Le Boucher" is more of a study in passive complicity or associative guilt than a murder-mystery, but it's still a difficult movie to write about without spoiling the plot for newcomers, so I'm going to sidestep the problem. It reminds me of a tragic variation on "La Belle et la Bête", in which Belle is too romantically jaded and too much the mistress of her own desires - i.e. she is not innocent enough - to save the helpless Beast from his uncontrollable lust for blood. In the most telling scene of all, schoolmistress Mademoiselle Hélène (Stéphane Audran) and her pupils visit some cave paintings by Cro-Magnon man. The teacher asks, "Do you know what desires are called when they rise above the savage state? Aspirations." The irony is that Belle condemns the Beast to his savage limbo by being completely unresponsive to his tender advances, his aspirations. While the film undoubtedly owes a debt to Hitchcock, Chabrol's beautifully observed provincial French setting completely surpasses the other's invariably artificial backdrops. Pierre Jansen's score is wonderfully creepy and Stéphane Audran and Jean Yanne are magnificent. A quietly perfect little masterpiece. "Mademoiselle Hélène! Mademoiselle Hélène!"
Dr Blood

More of a thriller than a true horror genre classic but the scary moments are better that most of the slasher films which have followed.
Eric B

Probably Claude Chabrol's most acclaimed film, "Le Boucher" is a solid tale about a small-town schoolteacher (Stephane Audran) who enters a tentative courtship with the local butcher (Jean Yanne), only to develop suspicions that he's the serial killer whom the… More
Probably Claude Chabrol's most acclaimed film, "Le Boucher" is a solid tale about a small-town schoolteacher (Stephane Audran) who enters a tentative courtship with the local butcher (Jean Yanne), only to develop suspicions that he's the serial killer whom the police are tracking. The story takes awhile to heat up and Audran (Chabrol's then-wife) is far too model-beautiful for the role, but the second half builds some compelling, Alfred Hitchcock-like tension. And don't overlook Pierre Jansen's intriguing, avant-garde score -- definitely an unexpected treat. It's just too bad the film is visually drab, beyond a bit of exotic cave footage.