L'Oeil du Malin / The Third Lover (FR/DE, 1962)

My fourth Chabrol film in 4 weeks, which must be a new record...

The first to star Stéphane Audran as Hèléne, who became a staple during Chabrol's peak era. Peak era L'Oeil du Malin is not, but still a reasonably good film; better than À Double Tour, slightly better than Le Beau Serge, but nowhere near as good as Les Bonnes Femmes.

A young, self-absorbed journalist is despatched to a suburban village outside Munich to report upon daily life there. A chance meeting with a French woman yields an invite to her home which she shares with her German writer husband. Albin soon becomes a regular into their cosy home, but begins to nurture designs of his own...The story is partly narrated by Albin, and there is perhaps a little too much of his internalised feelings. The ending, while not unexpected, is, again, perhaps less effective than in Chabrol's best work.

There's some interesting footage from a subdued daytime Oktoberfest at a fair outside of town. Chabrol himself makes a very brief appearance as a member of the public in the gentleman's club scene.

Unattractive but useful Chabrol fansite here with a very good filmography.