L'enfer (1994)

Second viewing; first viewed on October 18, 1994.

English title: Hell

Based on a 1964 screenplay by Henri-Georges Clouzot and José-André Lacour (and possibly Jean Ferry, who is credited on the 1964 IMDB entry but not on the 1994 one).

A French hotelier suspects his wife of cheating on him with one of the hotel guests. He becomes progressively controlling towards her.

Not as bad as it seemed on my first viewing. Perhaps the timing factor is one possible detractor: in 1994 the situations do not seem as socially plausible as they would have thirty years earlier. Films about conjugal unfaithfulness always seem to me as they are touching upon something deeply philosophical about the nature of reality and such issues. On a more down-to-Earth note, why didn't the guy hire a detective (one might ask)? It is interesting to notice the different takes of this and two other fiction works dealing with male jealousy. Othello depicts a faithful wife and a mad(dened) husband. Intrigue, combined with racial difference, are factors. Dom Casmurro depicts a husband acting reasonably upon reasonable suspicion. The modern critique of him stems from pathologizing male jealousy in itself. It is entirely a matter of ideology. L'enfer depicts a husband whose madness is triggered by reasonable suspicion. Anyway, it is a finely built narrative, finely filmed too, and finely acted.

Rating: 60 (up from 49)