Blood Relatives 
                                   
Director: Claude Chabrol
Year: 1978
Rating: 6.0
Aka - les Liens de Sang

Claude Chabrol takes on the 87th Precinct in this English language film shot in Montreal. But as is often the case when a director films in a language that is not his own something is lost. The performances are off key, wooden, the emotion is gone and the director doesn't seem to realize it. Chabrol brings over a number of French actors including his wife (Stéphane Audran) and some of them were later dubbed into English. The main performance from Donald Sutherland as Carella is fine but many of the others are flat and toneless. Donald Pleasance as a child molester and David Hemmings as a manager are good but their roles are small. Chabrol tried breaking into the American market a few times previously - Dr. M., Ten Days Wonder, The Champagne Murders (using Anthony Perkins for the last two - likely due to Psycho) - without much success. I suspect if this had been produced back home in France it would have been better. In fact, in 1971 an 87th precinct film with the title Sans Mobile Apparent was produced in France.  


 
Patricia, a young girl of fifteen comes running into the police station covered in blood with lacerations to her face and arms. She tells them that she and her cousin Muriel were attacked by a man with a knife and her cousin is dead. Carella and Klinger take on the investigation but there are few clues to go by. Patricia tells a sordid tale of the man forcing Muriel to perform a sexual act on him and then killed her - she was able to escape. He was tall with dark hair and blue eyes. A few days later though she changes her story and admits that it was her brother who killed her cousin. But Carella feels something is still wrong and keeps burrowing, asking questions and it takes him into the heart of darkness. About two thirds of the way through the film shifts from Carella to the other characters in a flashback through the device of a diary and I thought it lost its edge and gave away too much. Sutherland plays this very low-key, very gentle - clean shaven, a haircut and a suit makes him look younger than he did in Klute and MASH from years before.