And you thought your family seemed nuts after you returned home from college. Just try director Claude Chabrol's latest on for size. After spending four years in America, Benoît Magimel returns to France and his family just in time to see a nasty letter dredging up past allegations about his stepmother (Nathalie Baye). It's meant to stop her from running for reelection to the city council--an idea that his suspicious father, Bernard Le Coq, hates anyway.
But this film is so static it all hardly matters. Sure, the actors are beautiful, (so are the houses), but nothing draws you into the story--even the scandals are talked about rather than depicted. And it doesn't help that the film's tone suddenly shifts from drama to black comedy near the end. Chabrol has made some fine films, but the most engaging thing about this one is its title.