“I love it when you have qualms.”

Claude Chabrol fans won’t be able to resist taking a look at Flower of Evil–a film with a great beginning, loaded with atmosphere, but with an ultimately disappointing ending. The story revolves around a wealthy family whose multi-generational habit of inter-marrying has created a great deal of scandal and rumour in a small French town. When the story begins, Francois (Benoit Magimel) returns from America to the family mansion. Three generations of the Vasseur and Charpin families live there–including Aunt Line (Suzanne Flon)–a woman who holds a number of family secrets. Immediately upon his return, Francois picks up a long-term relationship with his stepsister who is also his cousin–Michele Charpin-Vasseur (Melanie Doutey).

Francois’ stepmother Anne Charpin-Vasseur (Nathalie Baye) is running for a political position in town, and she’s very busy with the upcoming election. Her husband (Francois’ father) Gerard Vasseur (Bernard le Coq) clearly resents Anne’s involvement in politics. Gerard owns a laboratory in town, and here he distracts himself–not exactly subtly–with various young women. Trouble begins when an anonymous letter circulates in town detailing the scandals and unsolved crimes in Anne Charpin-Vasseur’s family history. The letter is distributed to all the voters in town and is obviously timed to ruin Anne’s chances at the polls.

Flower of Evil sets the stage for a great drama to unfold. The members of the household share a lot of secrets–Anne and Gerard, and for example, married after their spouses were killed. It’s rumoured that their long-dead spouses were having a wild affair, and it’s particularly nasty since there’s a hint that they were murdered. To complicate matters, Gerard’s brother was married to Anne. The sinister aspect of the film and its unsolved questions are emphasized, and the element of incest raises the notion of rot in the family tree.

Some of the best scenes in the film take place as Anne tries to campaign in a lower-class block of flats, and the film is its strongest in these sections. Unfortunately, the denouement is too rapid, and too unsatisfying. Chabrol leaves the viewer with the sense that this was a great half a film (and this happened in an earlier Chabrol film–Merci Pour le Chocolat). The film’s strong beginning promised so much more, and the ending left a great deal unexplored. In French with English subtitles.