Le cheval d'orgueil (1980)

 

In early twentieth-century Brittany, two peasants marry, have a son, and live in traditional Breton ways: three generations under one roof, a division of labor between the sexes, elders' stories at night, politics and religion during their little free time.

From memory: Unusual Chabrol movie is a period drama depicting (and celebrating) a simple, rural milieu, beautifully set and photographed, all well-intended, but somehow misses the point it wants to make.

Halliwell*: "Lovingly observed and glossy exercise in nostalgia, ravishing to look at, but somewhat stilted." 

Merci pour le chocolat (2000)

A young woman discovers that she may have been switched at birth and presents herself to her possible father And slowly discovers the dark secrets that connect her family with his.

Typical for its director this is a meticulously made satire of French/Swiss bourgeois society with a somewhat puzzling plot and an unexciting ending.

On re-watching:  I still agree with my initial opinion; the ending is a bit disappointing.

Halliwell*: "Icy, ambiguous thriller that exposes the passionate screts that underlie an apparently conventional bourgeois family."

Maltin**1/2: "Subdued psychological thriller is mostly nuanced talk, with Chabrol favorite Huppert well suited to the role of perverse matriarch."