''Violette Nozière'', also titled ''Violette'', is a 1978

crime drama film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as drama or gangster film, but al ...

directed by

Claude Chabrol Claude Henri Jean Chabrol (; 24 June 1930 – 12 September 2010) was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave (''nouvelle vague'') group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues an ...

starring Isabelle Huppert and Stéphane Audran. It tells the true story of teenage prostitute and murderer Violette Nozière, who poisoned her parents in 1933 France.

Plot

France in the early 1930s: teenager Violette lives with her parents, Baptiste Nozière, a train driver, and Germaine Nozière. Unbeknownst to Baptiste, he is not Violette's father, something known only to the mother and daughter. Rebelling against her petit-bourgeois parents, Violette secretly works as a prostitute. She falls in love with student Jean Dabin, whom she supports with thefts from her parents' as well as her prostitution. Violette's doctor informs her parents that she has contracted

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent syphilis, latent or tertiary. The prim ...

. She convinces them that she has inherited the disease and that they should take a "medicine" which is actually poison. The first murder attempt fails and both survive, although her mother is temporarily hospitalised. On the second attempt, her father dies, while the mother again survives. Violette tries to cover up her crime as a suicide, but is tried and convicted, despite her saying that she had been raped by her father (an allegation which the film neither confirms nor refutes). The jury sentences her to death by

guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...

, but a voiceover says that her sentence was commuted by degrees to the point that she ultimately left prison after 12 years, married, and had five children.

Cast

* Isabelle Huppert as Violette Nozière *

Jean Carmet Jean Carmet (; 25 April 1920 – 20 April 1994) was a French actor. Life and career Jean Carmet began working on stage and then in film in the early 1940s becoming a very popular comedic actor in his native country. He is best known internat ...

as Baptiste Nozière * Stéphane Audran as Germaine Nozière * Jean-François Garreaud as Jean Dabin * Zoé Chauveau as Zoe the maid * Jean-Pierre Coffe as Dr. Deron * Jean Dalmain as Mr. Emile * Guy Hoffman as the Judge * Henri-Jacques Huet as Commissioner Guilleaume * Bernadette Lafont as Violette's cellmate * Bernard Lajarrige as Andre De Pinguet * Bernard Alane as Pinguet's son * Lisa Langlois as Maddy *

Fabrice Luchini Fabrice Luchini (; born Robert Luchini; 1 November 1951) is a French stage and film actor. He has appeared in films such as '' Potiche'', '' The Women on the 6th Floor'', and '' In the House''. Life and career Fabrice Luchini was born in Paris, ...

as Camus * Dominique Zardi as Boy in café

Background

''Violette Nozière'' was entered into the main competition at the

1978 Cannes Film Festival The 31st Cannes Film Festival took place from 16 to 30 May 1978. American filmmaker Alan J. Pakula served as jury president for the main competition. Italian filmmaker Ermanno Olmi won the ''Palme d'Or'', the festival's top prize, for the drama ...

, where Isabelle Huppert won the award for Best Actress. At the

César Awards The César Award is the national film award of France. It is delivered in the ' ceremony and was first awarded in 1976. The nominations are selected by the members of twelve categories of filmmaking professionals and supported by the French Min ...

, Stéphane Audran was awarded Best Supporting Actress. The film was also nominated in three other categories: Best Actress (Isabelle Huppert), Best Music (Pierre Jansen) and Best Production Design (Jacques Brizzio). The film had a total of 1,074,507 admissions in France. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' placed ''Violette Nozière'' on its 2004 "Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made" list.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Violette Noziere 1978 films 1978 crime drama films French crime drama films Crime drama films based on actual events Films set in the 1930s Films directed by Claude Chabrol Films about prostitution in France Canadian crime drama films Cultural depictions of French people Cultural depictions of prostitutes Cultural depictions of assassins Biographical films about criminals Fiction about familicide French-language Canadian films 1970s Canadian films 1970s French films Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress César Award–winning performance Films scored by Pierre Jansen Films about child sexual abuse 1970s French-language films