Landru (film)

1963 French film

Landru

Directed by| Claude Chabrol
Written by| Françoise Sagan
Produced by|

* Georges de Beauregard
* Carlo Ponti

Starring|

* Charles Denner
* Michèle Morgan
* Danielle Darrieux
* Hildegard Knef

Cinematography| Jean Rabier
Edited by| Jacques Gaillard
Music by| Pierre Jansen

Production
companies

Compagnia Cinematografica Champion
Rome Paris Films

Distributed by| Lux Compagnie Cinématographique de France

Release date

* 25 January 1963 (1963-01-25)

Running time

| 119 minutes
Countries| France
Italy
Language| French

Landru (US title: Bluebeard) is a 1963 French-Italian crime drama film directed by Claude Chabrol. The screenplay was written by Françoise Sagan.[1][2] The film stars Charles Denner, Michèle Morgan, Danielle Darrieux and Hildegard Knef.

It was based on the story of French serial killer Henri Désiré Landru, who murdered and dismembered more than 10 women during World War I.

## Plot

[edit]

During World War I, the seemingly respectable middle-aged man Henri Landru has devised an ingenious means of obtaining money to supplement his dwindling income. Adopting various assumed names, he lures middle-class women to his villa at Gambais, just outside Paris. There he kills them and burns their bodies. He then helps himself to his victims’ bank accounts, so that he can keep his wife, his mistress and his four children in the manner to which they have grown accustomed.

Having murdered ten women and one boy, Landru is finally captured and placed before a court of law. Eloquent in his protestations of innocence, he is confident that no jury will condemn a man of such intellect and breeding.

## Cast

[edit]

* Charles Denner \- Henri Désiré Landru
* Danielle Darrieux \- Berthe Héon
* Michèle Morgan \- Celestine Buisson
* Juliette Mayniel \- Anna Collomb
* Stéphane Audran \- Fernande Segret
* Mary Marquet \- Mme. Guillin
* Pierre Vernier as a magistrate
* Henri Attal
* Serge Bento \- Maurice Landru
* André Fouché \- Doctor Paul
* Sacha Briquet \- Assistant prosecutor
* Robert Burnier \- Presiding judge
* Mario David - Prosecutor
* Françoise Lugagne \- Mme. Landru
* Claude Mansard \- Defense Attorney
* Jean-Louis Maury \- Commissioner Belin
* Jean-Pierre Melville \- Georges Mandel
* Hildegard Knef \- Madame Ixe
* Denise Provence \- Mme. Laporte
* Raymond Queneau \- Georges Clemenceau
* Catherine Rouvel \- Andrée Babelay
* Dominique Zardi \- Gendarme

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Wilkins, Budd. "Two by Claude Chabrol on Kino Lorber Blu-ray: Bluebeard and Blue Panther". Slant. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
2. ^ Sarris, Andrew (18 April 1963). "Films". The Village Voice. Retrieved 20 November 2023.

## External links

[edit]

* Landru at Films de France
* Landru at IMDb

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Films directed by Claude Chabrol

* Le Beau Serge (1958)
* Les Cousins (1959)
* Web of Passion (1959)
* Les Bonnes Femmes (1960)
* Wise Guys (1961)
* The Third Lover (1962)
* Landru (1963)
* Ophélia (1963)
* Code Name: Tiger (1964)
* Marie-Chantal vs. Doctor Kha (1965)
* Six in Paris (segment "La Muette") (1965)
* Our Agent Tiger (1965)
* Line of Demarcation (1966)
* The Champagne Murders (1967)
* The Road to Corinth (1967)
* Les Biches (1968)
* The Unfaithful Wife (1969)
* This Man Must Die (1969)
* Le Boucher (1970)
* The Breach (1970)
* Just Before Nightfall (1971)
* Ten Days' Wonder (1971)
* Dr. Popaul (1972)
* Wedding in Blood (1973)
* Nada (1974)
* Pleasure Party (1975)
* Innocents with Dirty Hands (1975)
* Death Rite (1976)
* The Twist (1976)
* Alice or the Last Escapade (1977)
* Blood Relatives (1978)
* Violette Nozière (1978)
* The Horse of Pride (1980)
* The Hatter's Ghost (1982)
* The Blood of Others (1984)
* Cop au Vin (1985)
* Inspecteur Lavardin (1986)
* Masks (1987)
* The Cry of the Owl (1987)
* Story of Women (1988)
* Quiet Days in Clichy (1990)
* Dr. M (1990)
* Madame Bovary (1991)
* Betty (1992)
* The Eye of Vichy (1993)
* Hell (1994)
* La Cérémonie (1995)
* The Swindle (1997)
* The Color of Lies (1999)
* Merci pour le Chocolat (2000)
* The Flower of Evil (2003)
* The Bridesmaid (2004)
* Comedy of Power (2006)
* A Girl Cut in Two (2007)
* Bellamy (2009)

* v
* t
* e

Bluebeard (1697) by Charles Perrault

Film|

* Barbe-bleue (1901)
* Bluebeard (1944)
* Secret Beyond the Door... (1948)
* Bluebeard (1951)
* Landru (1963)
* Bluebeard (1972)
* Barbe Bleue (2009)
* Kékszakállú (2016)

Opera|

* Ariane et Barbe-bleue (Dukas 1907)
* Bluebeard's Castle (Bartók 1911)
* Barbe-bleue (Offenbach 1856)
* Ritter Blaubart (Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek 1920)

Ballet|

* Bluebeard (1896)

Related|

* Bluebeard (Vonnegut novel)
* Very Blue Beard (1979 film)

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