The Butcher

“An outstanding new film by one of France's leading directors.”

Hélène (Stéphane Audran) runs the village school in Trémolat, and her days are orderly and kept to herself. At a wedding feast she meets Popaul (Jean Yanne), the town butcher, a heavy, soft-spoken man who starts walking her home. Claude Chabrol sets their slow friendship against a run of killings in the area, and each of them keeps a careful distance from what the other might be thinking.