A STORY OF WOMEN

Claude Chabrol, one of the original members of the French New wave, here turns his attention to a story situated in the middle of the Second World war. Set in Vichy France, that part of the country which was governed by the collaborationist Petain regime, Chabrol tells the story of a woman who has been a mother for diirty years. Times are difficult and harsh, and the occupation has brought little happiness to their village. Husbands are prisoners of war, and as a result fleeting affairs are common; some women even flirt with the occupying forces. Marie decides to help a neighbour get rsd of a troublesome weight by selling her 'services'. Her husband, wounded in the war and now demobilised, is surprised by the sudden prosperity of the household.

Encouraged by the success of her 'enterprise', Mane helps things along even more by renting rooms to prostitutes so they can ply their trade. But, this is Vichy France and jealous whispers become denouncements which in turn mean death. It is decided that Mane will be made an example. In June 1943, Mane, now called the 'abortionist', is sentenced to death by a court.

A month later she becomes one of the last women to be guillotined in France.

A Story of Women reunites Isabelle Huppert and Chabrol who last worked together so successfully in Vioktte No&ere, a film with which this one bears a great deal in common. Chabrol is at his best, and Huppert is magnificent, in die role that won her the Best Actress Award at the 1988 Venice Film Festival.

The screenplay by Chabrol and Colo Tavernier O'Hagan is a free dramatisation of the case through which Chabrol composes a dispassionate and forceful portrait of provincial amorahty and hypocrisy (a Chabrol specialty). Of the many pictures in recent years devoted to France under the German Occupation, 'Une Affaire dc fem^nes^, perhaps best captures the ambiguities and realities of daily experiences.