The unthin man

Inspector Bellamy

Crit

Claude Chabrol's final film is a spiral of mysteries, criminal, romantic, and familial, but we're less interested in the answers than in the questioning. (Well, one exception: is Françoise (Marie Bunel), the almost-Nora Charles-perfect wife of the titular inspector (Gérard Depardieu), really carrying on an affair with his brother Jacques (Clovis Cornillac), as Chabrol goes to great pains to imply? And if so, does that undercut all he believes in? And if not, what of his suspicion?

Depardieu, the size of a small province, with a nose the shape and texture of a fine smelly cheese, has somehow never been more beautiful--and Bunel's not bad, either. An eminently French film, and I mean that in a good way.