Le beau Serge
Le beau Serge • 1h 39m
Directed by Claude Chabrol • 1958 • France
Starring Jean‑Claude Brialy, Gérard Blain
Of the hallowed group of “Cahiers du cinéma” critics turned filmmakers who transformed French film history, Claude Chabrol was the first to direct his own feature. His absorbing landmark debut, LE BEAU SERGE (“Handsome Serge”), follows a successful yet sickly young man (Jean‑Claude Brialy) who returns home to the small village where he grew up. There, he finds himself at odds with his former close friend (Gérard Blain)—now unhappily married and a wretched alcoholic—and the provincial life he represents. The remarkable and stark LE BEAU SERGE heralded the arrival of a cinematic titan who would go on to craft provocative, entertaining films for five more decades.
Up Next in Le beau Serge
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Claude Chabrol: Mon premier film
This 2003 documentary by Francis Girod revisits the town of Sardent, the location for LE BEAU SERGE as well as the site of director Claude Chabrol’s introduction to cinema as a young man. It features interviews with Chabrol and actors Jean-Claude Brialy and Bernadette Lafont.
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L’invité du dimanche
In this segment from the January 6, 1969, episode of the French television series “L’invité du dimanche,” director Claude Chabrol and journalist Bertrand Jérôme return to the town where LE BEAU SERGE was shot, eleven years after the release of the film. The segment was directed by Roger Kahane an...
