AboveDeepBuggy Some things I liked some I did not.

Konterr Brilliant and touching

SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Cody One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

MartinHafer First, as another reviewer pointed out, the two leads (Romy Schneider and Rod Steiger) do their parts in English and the rest of the cast are speaking French--making it irrelevant whether or not you watch the French-dubbed or English-dubbed version. However, and this is odd, you probably should NOT watch the film with captioning, as the subtitles are inferior to both dubbed versions! I know this makes no sense, but often the subtitles were inaccurate or didn't convey the message as well as the actors originally spoke! I actually watched about half the film in French and then watched the other half in English. But boy were those subtitles annoying--even getting little details wrong.As for the film itself, through the first half of the film, it all seems pretty familiar--especially for a tale directed by Claude Chabrol. He made a career out of films about infidelity and murder. However, midway through the film, the film has many excellent twists and turns. BUT I CANNOT REALLY TALK ABOUT THEM WITHOUT WRITING A FEW SPOILERS, SO BE ADVISED!!! Romy and boy-toy, Jeff, begin a torrid affair as the husband (Steiger) drinks himself to oblivion. Eventually, the lovers come up with a plan to murder Steiger and live off his fortune. Unfortunately for the lovers, the plan goes awry but it isn't certain exactly what happened--all we know is Romy is now being blamed for possibly killing BOTH men, as there isn't much trace of them.When Steiger returns later and is indeed alive, this created a wonderful opportunity for the film, as Romy suddenly found that her formerly impotent husband is very potent indeed and their dead relationship is rejuvenated. This would have been a wonderful point to end the story. In essence, the woman's lover is killed by the impotent man, who, in doing this regains his own power and sexuality--a somewhat kinky but fascinating idea. Unfortunately, while this was where the film was going, the movie had an additional 30 minutes of plot twists that did a lot to confuse everything and make the story much more difficult to believe. It's a great example of a film that didn't know when to stop. Without the next 30 minutes, I'd have scored the movie an 8. With it, the impact is greatly lessened. I strongly agree with the review that saw this film as needlessly complicated--a problem common to many of Chabrol's films.Finally, a note to parents that this isn't a great film for kids due to its sexual nature and nudity. Miss Schneider, at age 37, is quite lovely in her many nude scenes--it's a real shame her life off-screen was so short and tragic.

writers_reign ... is a misdeal. Chabrol does it again. This time the colours tend more toward rich oil than the pastel water he invariably favours but maybe the rich stew of the plot dictated the palette. The basic premise is a mixture of The Postman Always Rings Twice/Double Indemnity and/or any of the rip-offs in which a young, virile wife is saddled with an older and/or sexually dormant husband, finds a young stud and what begins as healthy lust graduates to 'let's murder rich husband and spend his money'. Chabrol merely uses this as a jumping-off point and is soon introducing more twists than a hairpin bend on that very Riviera that forms the setting (St Tropez). The strongest factor is Romy Schneider as the wife and Chabrol has had the good taste to include her in virtually every scene. Rod Steiger as the husband plays Rod Steiger but that isn't necessarily bad but the weakest link is definitely Poalo Giusti, who has to be the most wooden actor since Laurence Harvey, as the stud cum assassin and for good measure Hitchcock buff Chabrol has thrown in a comic couple who clearly had their genesis in Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne in Hitch's The Lady Vanishes but are now transformed into a Greek Chorus of cops. You may not want to see it again for a decade or so but it's diverting enough for a couple of hours.

Carlo Houtkamp Claude Chabrol's Les Innocents aux Mains Sale sometimes runs the risk over becoming very, very slow-paced. Particularly the scene in the judge's office in which Julie's attorney cunningly pleads for her innocence is way, way too long. A little less dialogue, and a little more suspense would have helped this film, although it is really not bad.But... The major attraction in this film is not the story, which, I must say, does have some highly unexpected twists and does indeed show Chabrol's creative skills and pleasure in directing. The star of Les Innocents is no one less than the wonderful Romy Schneider, whose acting performance, charm and beauty in this film are more stunning than ever before. I am very happy that Chabrol has chosen her character as the central one, for now we can admire gracious Scheider in almost every scene. I have the impression the camera man was in love with her, and who can blame him. Romy even looks amazing in the scene where she is putting curlers in her hair. She is the perfect cast for this complicated Femme Fatale role.Although mainly the mediteranean filming locations in combination with the outstanding weather are to be credited for providing this Film Noir with a deceptively pleasant yellow, warm glow, it is Romy Scheider's radiance and talent that make Les Innocents aux Mains Sales a joy to watch.

Artemis-9 more important than the carefully analysis of a wife/husband relationship gone sour, with a cunning game between the husband and the wife's lover, is the magnificent depiction of the relationships between a number of characters. The whole bourgeois world that Chabrol so often chastised is here, with unforgettable roles by Romy Schneider, Rod Steiger, and Jean Rochefort. Sum-up: Film's photography is neat; Justice... has got "dirty hands".