LES BICHES Movie Review

The Heterosexuals

A rich, amoral, sexually hungry socialite named Frédérique (Stéphane Audran) picks up a young artist named Why (Jacqueline Sassard) drawing on the streets of Paris, seduces her, and takes her to St. Tropez. Things heat up considerably when an architect (Jean-Louis Trintignant) appears on the scene, threatening the lovers' stability by tempting the sexually ambiguous artist. Claude Chabrol's Les Biches was mighty hot stuff when first released, but it's no less silly today than it was in 1968. It's the perfect thing when you're in the mood for a nice, healthy wallow in European decadence (Audran is a veritable poster child for slinky, self-satisfied degeneracy), but it's not necessarily the best introduction to the work of the enormously gifted Claude Chabrol.

NEXT STOP … Wedding in Blood, Just Before Nightfall, Violette

1968 (R) 95m/C FR Stephane Audran, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jacqueline Sassard; D: Claude Chabrol; W: Claude Chabrol. VHS, LV CVC, LUM