Web of Passion


Web of Passion is a 1959 French suspense thriller film directed by Claude Chabrol and based on the novel The Key to Nicholas Street by American writer Stanley Ellin. It was Chabrol's first film in the thriller genre, which would be his genre of choice for the rest of his career. The film had a total of 1,445,587 admissions in France.

Plot

Leda, the mistress of the wealthy Henri Marcoux is murdered, and the family accuses the milkman of committing the crime. But Marcoux's daughter's fiance suspects that Leda may have been murdered by someone else.

Cast

Produced by Robert and Raymond Hakim, it was Chabrol's first big-budget color film. It was shot by cinematographer Henri Decaë on location in Aix-en-Provence.

Reception

Madeleine Robinson won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress in 1959 for her role in this film. With 1,445,587 admissions in France, it was Chabrol's third most popular film in his career.
The Film Quarterly reviewer wrote: "Chabrol here shows himself as a sort of cross between Hitchcock... and Minnelli", and praised the film's "flamboyant, glorious color" and "astonishing tours de force camerawork." Time Out commented: "Chabrol's third film, greeted at the time as a Hitchcock pastiche,... has gained considerably in stature," and added that "the climactic murder of the mistress... reveals the first glimpses of the Fritz Lang influence later to flower in Chabrol's work." Roy Armes was more critical, saying that "Chabrol's lack of feeling for his characters and love for overacting becomes evident in his handling of the minor characters, and the love scenes which should be moving are simply cinematic clichés."