Three generations of a wealthy family are torn apart when Anne (Nathalie Baye), the second wife of drink philanderer Gérard (Bernard Le Coq), runs for mayor. That unleashes a political pamphlet that brings back so many old scandals, including war profiteering, corruption, Nazi collaboration, cheating, incest and generally not being very great people.

At the same time, François (Benoît Magimel), Gérard’s son from his first marriage, has returned from America and is soon leaving for a romantic weekend with his stepsister and cousin Michèle (Mélanie Doutey), who comes from Anne’s first marriage, not that that will look good to the public. Yet Aunt Line (Suzanne Flon) encourages this forbidden romance. Well, maybe not forbidden, because it seems like this family has been interbreeding since they were a family. So maybe that pamphlet is on to something.

Ah, that pamphlet. So many Gérard wrote it, which is up for conjecture, but he definitely tries to assault Michèle on the night that her mother secures the election. As he attempts to take her, he falls and dies, just as the victory party arrives.

Claude Chabrol was into his fiftieth film when this was made and he filmed what he was most interested in: the French rich, their scandals and a crime. It just so happens that one crime takes place in the past and another in the present, with both involving the same players.

Sometimes, you can play the same song over and over and if you’re good at it, we notice that the notes are slightly different and are still engaged by them.

Twisting The Knife: Four Films By Claude Chabrol comes with high definition Blu-ray presentations of all four films, as well as new 4K restorations of The Swindle, Nightcap and The Color of Lies. You also get an 80-page collector’s booklet of new writing by Sean Hogan, Brad Stevens, Catherine Dousteyssier-Khoze, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Pamela Hutchinson, as well as limited edition packaging featuring newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella.

The Flower of Evil has new commentary by film critic Farran Smith Nehme, a new visual essay by Agnes Poirier, behind-the-scenes, an interview with co-writer Catherine Eliacheff, an introduction by film scholar Joël Magny, a trailer, an image gallery and select scene commentaries by Claude Chabrol.

You can get Twisting The Knife: Four Films By Claude Chabrol from MVD.