Introduction

Abstract

Claude Chabrol famously said that one of his key priorities was ‘ne pas emmerder le public’ (‘not to bore the audience stiff’).1 It is therefore slightly provocative to apply the label of ‘opacity’ to a director who always prided himself on the accessibility and entertainment value of his films. Yet, his overtly anti-elitist and popular approach to cinema was by no means achieved at the expense of creativity, artistic standards and depth of meaning, and one can get some precious insight into the ‘Chabrol paradox’ through another light-mooded yet revealing quotation of his: ‘Ce qui est drôle, c’est de faire des plans avec deux ou trois strates de lecture’ (‘Making shots with two or three reading grids, that’s what’s fun’)....