Claude Chabrol’s ‘La Femme infidèle’ revisited

Claude Chabrol’s 1968 film ‘La Femme infidèle’ (Unfaithful Wife) is recognized as a definitive erotic thriller of the French New Wave. The story follows a bourgeois insurance broker who discovers his wife’s infidelity, leading to a violent confrontation and a subsequent attempt to cover up the crime.

Critics have compared the original work to its American remake directed by Adrian Lyne. While the Chabrol original is noted for its balanced exploration of bourgeois domesticity and ironic humor, the remake, starring Diane Lane and Richard Gere, has been critiqued for shifting its focus and struggling with its narrative direction and ending.