Very good film, one of the last of Claude Chabrol, with excellent performances by Emmanuelle Beart and Francois Cluzet. Although not the best film of Chabrol, it is one of the most competent (and disconcerting) films to deal with the subject of sick and obsessive jealousy. Merit also for the end of the film and for the fact that we will never be shown if the woman is unfaithful or not.Originally written by screenwriter and director Henri Georges Clouzot, "l'enfer", years later he had his rights sold by his widow to a producer who offered him to Claude Chabrol. His plot revolves around Paul Prieur, a man possessed by a sick jealousy of his wife.No doubt this is a fascinating study that shows how one's insecurities can affect, in addition to his own life, those of all who find themselves around him.Although considered as one of the great filmmakers of French cinema, this film is not considered among the best achievements of Chabrol, such as "le beau serge", "les cousins", "une affaire de femmes", "la ceremonie" , among others.

After watching the spectacular first Mission Impossible movie again recently,I decided to check Emmanuelle Béart's other credits.Discovering on Amazon UK and her IMDb page that 90% of Béart's credits were French flicks,I was taken aback,when I spotted a Neo- Noir (for £3) that looked liked the ultimate French 90's Noir,with the credits revealing that Béart was joining auteur film maker Claude Chabrol-and a screenplay from Henri-Georges Clouzot!,which led to me excitingly getting ready to jump into this Noir hell.The plot:Repairing an inn, Paul Prieur meets Nelly.Soon falling for each other, Prieur and Nelly soon get married and have a child. Initially living together in married bliss, Prieur starts to get anxious at every man who gives Nelly the smallest glance.Ignoring her explanations, Prieur begins secretly following Nelly on her daily routine.Catching his wife (possibly) being flirty, Prieur begins imagining the erotic acts that Nelly has performed with other men,which leads to the line between fantasy and reality in Prieur's mind crumbling away,as he and Nelly enter a pit of hell.View on the film:Lit up from the screenplay of Henri-Georges Clouzot's unfinished film, Chabrol (with additional dialogue from José-André Lacour) unleashes a Neo-Noir that is a perfect tribute to Clouzot,and also one whose themes allow the title to proudly stand on its own feet.Caught in a whirlwind romance, Chabrol gives the early days of Nelly and Prieur a bourgeoisie dream giving them a "perfect" image to the outside world.Twisting the knife into Neo-Noir,Clouzot and Chabrol display an extraordinary attention to detail for Prieur's lock into a Neo-Noir world,by making the slightest attempt Nelly makes to place a gap between them,lead to Prieur blurring the lines between his deeply troubling Neo-Noir "fantasies" in his mind,with the burning hell that he is shoving himself and Nelly in.Presenting their marriage in fluid camera moves, Chabrol & cinematographer Bernard Zitzermann chip away at the light with brittle Neo-Noir darkness,via caving in the light colours with unrelenting shadows engulfing their lives. Dipping into Prieur's fractured mind, Chabrol grabs the neck of Prieur,via casting shimming shadows round Prieur's throat,that are lit up by Monique Fardoulis's razor sharp editing twisting and turning the murky nightmares and realities of Prieur and Nelly.Becoming entwined with Prieur looking ravishingly beautiful, Emmanuelle Béart gives an immaculate performance as Nelly,whose care-free nature Béart makes shine,which is brilliantly turned into a shell shocked soul who cant find an escape from the Neo-Noir pit.Entering the title looking like a gentlemen, François Cluzet gives a magnificent performance as Prieur.Starting with a nervous grin, Cluzet subtly pulls the veins out of Prieur's anxiety and suspicions across the screen and circles them round the decayed relationship,as Prieur and Nelly enter Chabrol's and Clouzot's inferno.

The previous comments about jealousy and the ending of the film are well made. L'enfer begins as a strong portrait of the husband but as his jealousy grows the film weakens. Part of the problem is that there are no subplots: the focus is entirely on Paul and his increasing paranoia. There are no other viewpoints to compare with Paul's, and his hallucinations can then become very confusing. It can be difficult for the viewer to understand what is happening and what Paul is imagining. Even the voice that comes to Paul early in the film doesn't develop by the end. The film would be much stronger if it were shown more directly what Paul's jealousy costs him; the ambiguous finale (Sans fin) lets it down. As a woman, I find the scene in the doctor's office puzzling and offensive. Why did the doctor book an appointment at the clinic for the next day and then allow Paul and Nelly to return home? Wasn't it obvious, as Nelly said after Paul ranted how she has sex with everyone, that Paul was nuts? Not to mention dangerous: he had already raped Nelly and nearly maimed her. Why the doctor didn't get Nelly away from him is beyond me. My husband walked out of the room shortly after the wife dismissed the mechanic from the hotel (about 45 minutes before the ending) because he couldn't take any more. I wanted to see what would happen now that the main object of the jealousy was gone. I would give this movie a 2 out of ten. It bored my husband and it disappointed and angered me. The title might make you think that it refers not only to Paul's hell and Nelly's hell, but the viewer's as well. Tant pis!

This movie shouldn't have been entitled "Hell," or "Jealously," but "Martineau," because what it's about is a seemingly normal husband's (Paul) ridiculous insecurity about the possibility that his wife (Nelly) has been unfaithful with a mechanic named Martineau. Movie critics with a penchant for the psychoanalytical will talk about desire, desire of the other, transference, displacement, and projection; and might even talk about Paul's jealousy as being the paradoxical building block of his very love for Nelly. But what is really operative is that Paul's obsession begins with the realization that his mechanic friend is very handsome and gets along well with his wife Nelly. From Paul's realization that Martineau is attractive to his wife and probably other women, a whole structure of jealousy is erected that winds up making a fool of Paul in public, to his wife and child, and ultimately driving him to cut himself while shaving.