Le Beau Serge

This 1958 inaugural feature by French New Wave legend Claude Chabrol actually preceded the more famous screen debuts from François Truffaut (The 400 Blows) and Jean-Luc Godard (Breathless), although this intelligent and self-assured film was overshadowed by his colleagues' more showy offerings. Jean-Claude Brialy stars as François, a sickly college graduate who returns to his rural hometown to recover. Gérard Blain plays Serge, his boyhood best friend who became the town drunk after the death of his first child. Chabrol doesn't apply any stylistic fireworks, preferring the steady, handsome elegance of carefully composed frames and functional but fluid camerawork, courtesy of the great Henri Dacaë, using the camera like a microscope to study the psychology beneath the surface, exploring the diffidence, resentment, and anxiety underlying the two men's hearty reunion, especially as François tries to help Serge regain his emotional footing. Chabrol's technique can be a little stiff, but his approach is confident and his direction of actors sure; if the conclusion seems conventional, the intimacy and grace of the final scenes nevertheless give the film conviction and emotional weight. Making its debut on both DVD and Blu-ray, extras include audio commentary by film critic Guy Austin, a 2003 French “making-of” documentary, a 1969 French TV program featuring Chabrol revisiting the town, and a booklet with an essay by film critic Terrence Rafferty. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)