Written and directed with the same finesse as most of Chabrol's films, but definitely not as successful as, say, Judgment in Stone or The Girl Cut in Two. The dialog and acting are good and the psychology is convincing, but there are still believability issues, something clunky about plot development, some points too vague, too many loose ends. Still a pretty nice suspense/drama.

Chabrol's masterfully nuanced direction and the great leading performances make this movie a delightful take on the psychological horror field.

Another subtle portrait of manipulative evil from Chabrol and Huppert. The plot isn't much, but watching the cold, clinical Huppert is infinitely disturbing, so disturbing that the viewer is forced to abandon his psychological questions for metaphysical ones--and receive no answers to either.

"Claude Chabrol's camera has a way of gently swaying back and forth as it cradles its characters, veiling tension beneath otherwise tender movements." - Ed Gonzalez

In this surprisingly successful Hitchcock update, Isabelle Huppert gives one of her best performances as a mother that doesn't understand her own cold and villainous actions. Anna Maoglalis excels as the Nancy Drew-like detective out to bring her down. Psychologically intense and unfolds in a strange but plausible manner. The classical music component is handled quite masterfully, as well.