Chabrol began his career as a critic in the 1950s for the prestigious French film journal ‘Les Cahiers du Cinema’ along with writers Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, Eric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette, who all went on to stun the film world with the nouvelle vague.
Beginning with ‘Le Beau Serge’ in 1958, Chabrol averaged almost a film a year; his last was 2009’s police thriller ‘Bellamy.’ His fascination with the films of Alfred Hitchcock led him to concentrate on suspense thrillers, earning him the nickname “The French Hitchcock,” but more often then not his films explored the nature of class and sexuality in the modern world.
He had many successful collaborations with such stars as Isabelle Huppert and Sandrine Bonnaire, but the most successful was with his second wife, Stephane Audran, with whom he made 20 films.
A short list of his best outings would have to include ‘Les Cousins’ (1958), ‘Les Bonnes Femmes’ (1959), ‘L’Oeil du Malin’ (1961), ‘Les biches’ (1968), ‘La Femme Infidele’ (1969), ‘Le boucher’ (1970), ‘Violette’ (1978), ‘Story of Women’ (1988) and ‘La Ceremonie’ (1995).
Another of the French New Wave greats, Rohmer, died this January.