Claude Chabrol made this film from a screenplay by Henri-Georges Clouzot, who never finished his version of the film when he started making it back in 1964.
Paul (François Cluzet) and Nelly (Emmanuelle Béart) have a relationship that falls apart due to his jealousy. L'Enfer means the "inferno of Hell" and that's what they both go through, all because Paul assumes that his wife is sleeping with anyone and everyone. But is she just doing these things to drive him mad? Or is she the living embodiment of a Tex Avery cartoon, the kind of woman that men can't control themselves around, and perhaps most frightening to men, one that knows it and uses it?
I'd say that at the least, I would not want to stay at the hotel that Paul is allowing to spiral madly out of control. That said, every man wants to marry a supermodel but is not ready for what work that entails. When everyone wants what you have - and you know it - and you're as despicable a person as Paul is, there's no way that your life can ever go well.
Paul (François Cluzet) and Nelly (Emmanuelle Béart) have a relationship that falls apart due to his jealousy. L'Enfer means the "inferno of Hell" and that's what they both go through, all because Paul assumes that his wife is sleeping with anyone and everyone. But is she just doing these things to drive him mad? Or is she the living embodiment of a Tex Avery cartoon, the kind of woman that men can't control themselves around, and perhaps most frightening to men, one that knows it and uses it?
I'd say that at the least, I would not want to stay at the hotel that Paul is allowing to spiral madly out of control. That said, every man wants to marry a supermodel but is not ready for what work that entails. When everyone wants what you have - and you know it - and you're as despicable a person as Paul is, there's no way that your life can ever go well.