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The Butcher

The Butcher

Thriller · Crime · Drama · 1970

An unlikely friendship between a dour, working class butcher and a repressed schoolteacher coincides with a grisly series of Ripper-type murders in a provincial French town.

Movie details

The Butcher

“An outstanding new film by one of France's leading directors.”

1970 Thriller · Crime · Drama 1h 33m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.1 / 10

Community rating

An unlikely friendship between a dour, working class butcher and a repressed schoolteacher coincides with a grisly series of Ripper-type murders in a provincial French town.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Butcher?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Claude Chabrol

Written by

Claude Chabrol

Stéphane Audran

Stéphane Audran

Hélène Davile, aka 'Mlle Hélène'

Jean Yanne

Jean Yanne

Paul Thomas, aka 'Popaul'

Roger Rudel

Roger Rudel

Commissioner Grumbach

Antonio Passalia

Antonio Passalia

Angelo

Mario Beccara

Mario Beccara

Léon Hamel

W

William Guérault

Charles

P

Pascal Ferone

Father Charpy

Court is in session

Put The Butcher on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Big-Idea Head

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.