IMDb RATING
7.0/10
6.6K
YOUR RATING
Paul and Nelly have everything to be happy: a dream wedding and a hotel. Until Paul starts to doubt Nelly.Paul and Nelly have everything to be happy: a dream wedding and a hotel. Until Paul starts to doubt Nelly.Paul and Nelly have everything to be happy: a dream wedding and a hotel. Until Paul starts to doubt Nelly.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaOriginally, the film was written by Henri-Georges Clouzot. He began filming in 1964, with Romy Schneider and Serge Reggiani in the main roles. Due to the health problems of Reggiani and Clouzot himself, he was never able to finish Inferno (1964). Claude Chabrol acquired Clouzot's screenplay and adapted it, updating it for the 90s, for his version.
- Quotes
[last lines]
Paul Prieur: What's happening to me? What have I done? Let's see... we're about to go to the clinic... in Clermont. Both of us... but we're still here... just as before. "Just as before" what? I don't know anymore. I'm losing it. I just hope she don't pretend... I need to put my head in order. I need to be careful. I can't... I musn't... never again... No... Let's see...
- Crazy creditsThe movie closes with a title that reads "No end".
- ConnectionsReferences Revenge (1990)
Featured review
De la normalité bourgoise jusqu'a l'enfer
Quite interesting film on obsession (an obsession of jealousy, in the specific case) and on the observation that hell is man-made. I liked the very solar performance of Emmanuelle Béart, while I expected something more from François Cluzet.
In order to frame the film properly, however, one must consider that the original script is from 1964 and that Chabrol went to a certain length not to let us lose sight of this fact: the film is shot in a very 60's technicolor; one of the hotel guests uses a camera rather than a video-camera, and the scene he shoots have an unmistakably 60's flavor; the water-ski scene (the key moment of the whole film) has a 60's pace and framing,... We are obviously supposed to read the film in a 1960's perspective. And, considering the political climate in France in the 60's, and the nature of Paul Prieur occupation (he is a hotel owner, therefore a businessman), I find it impossible not to read this film as a statement of the impossibility of the bourgeois ideal of happiness.
The bourgeois values make people equipped to strive for more, but don't give them the emotional tools to deal with their life once they are "arrived." The feeling that there must be something more, and that this can't be the perfection of life is too easily translated in the feeling that there *is* something wrong (a cheating wife: the greatest shame for the latin male), and in the creation of a personal hell.
It is very significant, I think, that the film was released at the dawn of the "new economy" which, even more that the traditional bourgeois values, leads people to a life of continuous movement, and makes them emotionally unprepared to deal with being finally arrived.
In order to frame the film properly, however, one must consider that the original script is from 1964 and that Chabrol went to a certain length not to let us lose sight of this fact: the film is shot in a very 60's technicolor; one of the hotel guests uses a camera rather than a video-camera, and the scene he shoots have an unmistakably 60's flavor; the water-ski scene (the key moment of the whole film) has a 60's pace and framing,... We are obviously supposed to read the film in a 1960's perspective. And, considering the political climate in France in the 60's, and the nature of Paul Prieur occupation (he is a hotel owner, therefore a businessman), I find it impossible not to read this film as a statement of the impossibility of the bourgeois ideal of happiness.
The bourgeois values make people equipped to strive for more, but don't give them the emotional tools to deal with their life once they are "arrived." The feeling that there must be something more, and that this can't be the perfection of life is too easily translated in the feeling that there *is* something wrong (a cheating wife: the greatest shame for the latin male), and in the creation of a personal hell.
It is very significant, I think, that the film was released at the dawn of the "new economy" which, even more that the traditional bourgeois values, leads people to a life of continuous movement, and makes them emotionally unprepared to deal with being finally arrived.
helpful•235
- zio ugo
- Apr 18, 2001
- How long is Hell?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Пекло
- Filming locations
- Castelnaudary, Aude, France(street scenes: Paul follows Nelly)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $39,003
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $9,736
- Oct 23, 1994
- Gross worldwide
- $39,003
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![Emmanuelle Béart, Claude Chabrol, and François Cluzet in Hell (1994)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMmYzOGU4YTMtNjAwZi00YTg3LWJkYTQtODI0ZjRkNDdlNWJiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjU1MDU2MTY@._V1_QL75_UY133_CR4,0,90,133_.jpg)