Violette Nozière, also titled Violette, is a 1978 French period biographical psychological crime drama film directed by Claude Chabrol starring Isabelle Huppert and Stéphane Audran. It tells the true story of teenage prostitute and murderer Violette Nozière, who poisoned her parents in 1933 France.
Contents
Plot
France in the early 1930s: teenager Violette lives with her parents, Baptiste Nozière, a train driver, and Germaine Nozière. Unbeknownst to Baptiste, he is not Violette's father, something known only to the mother and daughter. Rebelling against her petit-bourgeois parents, Violette secretly works as a prostitute. She falls in love with student Jean Dabin, whom she supports with thefts from her parents' as well as her prostitution.
Violette's doctor informs her parents that she has contracted syphilis. She convinces them that she has inherited the disease and that they should take a "medicine" which is actually poison. The first murder attempt fails and both survive, although her mother is temporarily hospitalised. On the second attempt, her father dies, while the mother again survives. Violette tries to cover up her crime as a suicide, but is tried and convicted, despite her saying that she had been raped by her father (an allegation which the film neither confirms nor refutes). The jury sentences her to death by guillotine, but a voiceover says that her sentence was commuted by degrees to the point that she ultimately left prison after 12 years, married, and had five children.
Cast
Isabelle Huppert as Violette Nozière
Jean Carmet as Baptiste Nozière
Stéphane Audran as Germaine Nozière
Jean-François Garreaud as Jean Dabin
Zoé Chauveau as Zoe the maid
Jean-Pierre Coffe as Dr. Deron
Jean Dalmain as Mr. Emile
Guy Hoffman as the Judge
Henri-Jacques Huet as Commissioner Guilleaume
Bernadette Lafont as Violette's cellmate
Bernard Lajarrige as Andre De Pinguet
Bernard Alane as Pinguet's son
Lisa Langlois as Maddy
Fabrice Luchini as Camus
Dominique Zardi as Boy in café
Background
Violette Nozière was entered into the main competition at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival, where Isabelle Huppert won the award for Best Actress. At the César Awards, Stéphane Audran was awarded Best Supporting Actress. The film was also nominated in three other categories: Best Actress (Isabelle Huppert), Best Music (Pierre Jansen) and Best Production Design (Jacques Brizzio).
The film had a total of 1,074,507 admissions in France.
The New York Times placed Violette Nozière on its 2004 "Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made" list.