I don't think it gets much more indie and low-budget than this: original songs sung off-key, and played on instruments that are less than perfectly tuned; sound cues and samples that seem unusually distant and detached, presented with imbalanced sound design; handheld camerawork and black and white cinematography; original music that mostly sounds cobbled together from the soundtracks of unseen student films exploring horror tropes; direction that puts one or two characters at a time in filming locations that are isolated, empty, and/or clearly the homes and offices of those involved; and more. This is to say nothing of the extremely loose and almost lackadaisical construction of the narrative (even over so minute a runtime), highly repetitive voiceovers, considerable and somewhat gratuitous nudity, and still more.
None of this directly speaks to the quality of the film, mind you. Despite the nature of the project, some of these aspects are actually quite good. In the broad strokes the plot and scene writing are solid and compelling; there are good ideas here. The music comes off as oblique and experimental at no few points, not to mention discordant, and I rather like it; were they more carefully attended to, the songs would be kind of morbidly fun. Filmmaker Jean-Denis Bonan illustrates a fine, burgeoning sense of shot composition at points, and I actually do appreciate Gérard de Battista's cinematography, including no few shots that are particularly long. The editing is unexpectedly sharp, too, in my opinion, and those stunts and effects that are employed actually look pretty swell, as well as special makeup. The acting is generally unremarkable but passable (save for a couple especially glaring counterexamples). And in the very least, 'La femme bourreau' ("The lady executioner," also known as 'A woman kills) is suitably well done that I have to admire the gumption to churn out what is obviously low-grade fare produced on a budget. It's not great, but it's not bad.
On the other hand, it's not just that the plot is loose and unbothered, but there's not much to it in the first place as it comes together very piecemeal. The writing feels a little unfinished in no few regards, or at least underdeveloped, and some scenes or pieces of dialogue are unnecessarily drawn out. Despite the readily evident scarcity of resources available to the production it's ultimately done fairly well, and still, even at only 69 minutes, I think it's longer than it needs to be; the entire last ten minutes or so, for example, could have been significantly trimmed. Worse yet is how the story ultimately shows itself to exploit a trope for the killer - that is, a stereotype, and a deliberate misrepresentation - that has little to no basis in reality, but which nevertheless is cited by misogynists and bigots as fuel for harmful beliefs and fear-mongering persecution. No, this isn't the only feature to have ever done so by any means, but that doesn't make it any better.
What it comes to is a balancing act between the limitations of the production, the earnestness of the production, and the few distinct flaws, including above all meager writing and a distasteful reveal of the killer that hasn't aged well (as if it was ever appropriate in the first place). I think overall this is still sufficiently well done to earn a soft recommendation, though that comes with caveats, and it's hardly a must-see. Even at that I wonder if I'm not being too kind in my assessment. If nothing else, I see the strength of what 'La femme bourreau' has to offer, and to one degree or another it outweighs the criticisms. Don't go out of your way for it, and watch with a grain of salt or two and tempered expectations, but if you do happen to come across this it's not a bad way to spend one's time.
None of this directly speaks to the quality of the film, mind you. Despite the nature of the project, some of these aspects are actually quite good. In the broad strokes the plot and scene writing are solid and compelling; there are good ideas here. The music comes off as oblique and experimental at no few points, not to mention discordant, and I rather like it; were they more carefully attended to, the songs would be kind of morbidly fun. Filmmaker Jean-Denis Bonan illustrates a fine, burgeoning sense of shot composition at points, and I actually do appreciate Gérard de Battista's cinematography, including no few shots that are particularly long. The editing is unexpectedly sharp, too, in my opinion, and those stunts and effects that are employed actually look pretty swell, as well as special makeup. The acting is generally unremarkable but passable (save for a couple especially glaring counterexamples). And in the very least, 'La femme bourreau' ("The lady executioner," also known as 'A woman kills) is suitably well done that I have to admire the gumption to churn out what is obviously low-grade fare produced on a budget. It's not great, but it's not bad.
On the other hand, it's not just that the plot is loose and unbothered, but there's not much to it in the first place as it comes together very piecemeal. The writing feels a little unfinished in no few regards, or at least underdeveloped, and some scenes or pieces of dialogue are unnecessarily drawn out. Despite the readily evident scarcity of resources available to the production it's ultimately done fairly well, and still, even at only 69 minutes, I think it's longer than it needs to be; the entire last ten minutes or so, for example, could have been significantly trimmed. Worse yet is how the story ultimately shows itself to exploit a trope for the killer - that is, a stereotype, and a deliberate misrepresentation - that has little to no basis in reality, but which nevertheless is cited by misogynists and bigots as fuel for harmful beliefs and fear-mongering persecution. No, this isn't the only feature to have ever done so by any means, but that doesn't make it any better.
What it comes to is a balancing act between the limitations of the production, the earnestness of the production, and the few distinct flaws, including above all meager writing and a distasteful reveal of the killer that hasn't aged well (as if it was ever appropriate in the first place). I think overall this is still sufficiently well done to earn a soft recommendation, though that comes with caveats, and it's hardly a must-see. Even at that I wonder if I'm not being too kind in my assessment. If nothing else, I see the strength of what 'La femme bourreau' has to offer, and to one degree or another it outweighs the criticisms. Don't go out of your way for it, and watch with a grain of salt or two and tempered expectations, but if you do happen to come across this it's not a bad way to spend one's time.