Vivid, intense colors and nice recreation of the period (France during, and a little after, WWI) make "Landru" a visually pleasing movie. But dramatically it's flat, and when the title character is finally captured by the police and put on trial, the film instead of picking up the pace becomes more dull and interminable. It has a distinguished cast of women but most of them just blend together (except maybe Stephane Audran; you can tell Chabrol likes her more than the others, because her character escapes their grisly fate!). As for Landru himself, he has a distinctive cartoonish style (especially that extra-pointy beard) which makes it hard to understand why so many women fall under his charm so quickly - especially since his foppish "good manners" are ridiculously obvious. Apart from a handful of good moments, and of course its look, "Landru" must be one of Chabrol's biggest misfires - black comedy is apparently not his forte (see also "High Heels"). ** out of 4.
Review of Bluebeard
