The Torment

Claude Chabrol’s The Torment, based on a screenplay by fellow director Henri-Georges Clouzot, is a psychological thriller centered on the unraveling of a man’s mind due to pathological jealousy. The film follows Paul (François Cluzet), a hotel manager who has just bought a charming waterfront hotel in the heart of France with his beautiful new wife (Emmanuelle Béart). The fairy tale quickly ends when Paul’s obsessive fixation on Nelly’s interactions with other men leads him to suspect her of infidelity, despite her reassurances. Thanks in part to the stellar performances from the two lead actors, the film provides a haunting exploration of coercive control and madness. As for Chabrol’s powerful direction, while introducing a pervading sense of menace, it gradually blurs the boundaries between the real and the illusory. More than a study of paranoia, The Torment thus becomes a paranoid narrative, leading the viewer to question the ‘reality’ of what they are witnessing by the end of the film.