According to IMDb trivia, "Docteur Popaul" was Claude Chabrol's biggest commercial hit in France up to that point in time, however Chabrol himself probably wasn't too pleased with how his little experiment in comedy turned out, since he rarely attempted it again for the rest of his long career. The laughs are few and far between (a dream sequence with Belmondo playing multiple roles is an interesting idea that doesn't really come off), and what's worse, for most of the running time the story doesn't seem to have a point; when it introduces an elaborate deception near the end, it hardly seems worth the wait. Still, any movie that features (even fleeting) nudity from the incredible Laura Antonelli can't be ALL bad! ** out of 4.

Another odd choice for this director (by the way, the English title makes no sense – much better is the alternate SCOUNDREL IN WHITE), an eccentric character comedy that generally misses the (dubious) mark but is redeemed by a thriller-type twist in the last half-hour which turns it into a Chabrol movie after all! Apparently, he intended it as a disservice to leading man Jean-Paul Belmondo since his own meticulously-crafted films were pretty much ignored by audiences whereas they would indiscriminately lap up anything the star chose to turn his hand to! Although I had disliked its theatrical trailer – that I caught when I rented a Belmondo DVD collection a couple of years ago – I decided to acquire it regardless as part of my ongoing comprehensive tribute dedicated to its director. Incidentally, I had to watch this in French without the benefit of subtitles – since my only other option was an Italian-dubbed version with superimposed Russian narration! Anyway, Belmondo (roguish as ever) makes a bet with a number of his card-playing pals that he can hitch up with the least attractive woman around. Meeting up a year later, many of them produce photos of their 'conquests' but, obviously, our hero makes off with the prize money – which he opts to spend vacationing in Tunisia where, running into mousy Mia Farrow (sporting buck-teeth, glasses and a leg-brace!), Belmondo decides to keep up the game! For the record, I had seen both Chabrol (presenting his latest film THE BRIDESMAID) and Farrow (introducing Giuseppe De Santis' neo-realist disaster movie ROMA ORE 11 [1952]) at the 61st Venice Film Festival in September 2004.But to get back to the film under review: Belmondo and Farrow marry and he takes a job at her eminent father's clinic (the protagonist happens to be a medical student) but, then, her luscious sister – Laura Antonelli – turns up. Obviously smitten with her, Belmondo drugs his wife in order to spend the nights with the younger woman and even Fate lends him a helping hand when the latter's husbands expire repeatedly in freak accidents (the first, involving a tractor, is especially hilarious).So far, so mediocre – or, at least, not particularly rewarding apart from Pierre Jansen's jaunty score. What is doubly disappointing here is that, in spite of the handiwork of Chabrol's long-time screen writing collaborator Paul Gegauff (a notoriously misogynist individual), the film does not have the courage of its intriguing convictions and makes commercial compromises by nevertheless peppering the whole with beautiful girls like Farrow, Antonelli and Marlene Appelt (as Belmondo's luscious nurse)…not to mention that afore-mentioned surprise ending that comes totally out of left field! In fact, Farrow's character is revealed to be not quite as naïve as her hubby (and the audience) had been led to believe as she smoothly turns the tables on Belmondo (with the help of a doctor – her lover, played by Daniel Ivernel – who, until then, had been our hero's best friend!). Here, too, we realize that the car accident which had opened the film was merely the first step in the protagonist's systematic emasculation. Speaking of Ivernel, he is perhaps best known for his appearance in Luis Bunuel's 1964 version of DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID which, incidentally, also features repressed bourgeois Michel Piccoli getting it on with his frumpy maid Muni! By the way, at the same time that Chabrol was involved in this occasionally amusing but ultimately thankless movie, his wife Stephane Audran's career was reaching its non-Chabrolian zenith via her participation in Bunuel's THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE (1972)!

At the time ,Chabrol was producing movies at an alarming speed .And that period is still looked upon as his very best:"la femme infidèle" "le boucher" "que la bête meure" "la rupture" and "les noces rouges" are unqualified musts for any Chabrol fan.Two works took a divergent road in this golden era: "la decade prodigieuse " was a failed (but not completely wretched) attempt at transferring one of Ellery Queen's absorbing books to the screen .And then "Docteur Popaul" which is from Hubert Monteilhet's "meurtres à loisirs" .Monteilhet writes thrillers which sometimes recall Boileau-Narcejac ("Diabolique" "Vertigo" )but he introduces a sense of humor and a certain bad taste not present in the works of the writers I mention above.Chabrol has given a totally true rendering of Monteilhet atmosphere:the set up,the grotesque characters (particularly a made look ugly Mia Farrow :why her anyway?The director had to dub her in French ).The conclusion ,like in any Monteilhet's book, is immoral to a fault.But deliciously immoral.

A delightful black comedy which is quite unlikely ever to be re-made by Hollywood, it is just too cynical about beauty and love and marriage and family and medicine and murder. Jean-Paul Belmondo plays the title hero, ever in pursuit of ugly women (which incidentally furthers his career) until the sight of his sister-in-law, played by Laura Antonelli, make him change his priorities. It is amazing how Belmondo manages to stay likable while his character's actions are thoroughly objectionable throughout - it probably helps that his adversaries are not such terrific people themselves.