The Bridesmaid

French director Claude Chabrol has always had a soft spot for English-language mystery novels, and here he once again draws from celebrated crime writer Ruth Rendell (in 1995, he adapted her novel A Judgment in Stone into La Ceremonie). The Bridesmaid, which Chabrol has “Gallicized,” introduces us to Philippe (Benoît Magimel), a handsome young man living with and caring for his mother and sisters. At the wedding of one of his siblings, Philippe becomes fascinated by one of the bridesmaids, Senta (Laura Smet), who bears an uncanny resemblance to the statue of a woman that—until recently—graced the family garden. Enchanted by the girl, Philippe visits her at the country estate in which she lives alone and eventually falls completely under her spell—a bewitching that could have deadly consequences. Smet, the daughter of renowned French actress Nathalie Baye, is chillingly seductive and makes a memorable femme fatale. Twisted and unnerving, the deliberately paced The Bridesmaid nicely echoes the films of Alfred Hitchcock, one of Chabrol's major influences. Recommended. (E. Hulse)