''Landru'' (US title: ''Bluebeard'') is a 1963 French motion picture drama directed by

Claude Chabrol Claude Henri Jean Chabrol (; 24 June 1930 – 12 September 2010) was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave (''nouvelle vague'') group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues a ...

. The screenplay was written by

Françoise Sagan Françoise Sagan (born Françoise Delphine Quoirez; 21 June 1935 – 24 September 2004) was a French playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. Sagan was known for works with strong romantic themes involving wealthy and disillusioned bourgeois chara ...

. The film stars

Charles Denner Charles Denner (29 May 1926 – 10 September 1995) was a French actor born to a Jewish family in Tarnów, Poland. During his 30-year career he worked with some of France's greatest directors of the time, including Louis Malle, Claude Chabrol, ...

, Michèle Morgan, Danielle Darrieux and

Hildegard Knef Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef (; 28 December 19251 February 2002) was a German actress, voice actress, singer, and writer. She was billed in some English-language films as Hildegard Neff or Hildegarde Neff. Early years Hildegard Knef was born ...

. It was based on the story of

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

Henri Désiré Landru, who murdered and dismembered more than 10 women during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Plot

During World War I, a seemingly respectable middle-aged man Henri Landru has devised an ingenious means of obtaining money to supplement his dwindling income. Adopting various assumed names, he lures middle-class women to his villa at Gambais just outside Paris, where he kills them and burns their bodies. He then helps himself to his victims’ bank accounts so that he can keep his wife, his mistress and his four children in the manner to which they have grown accustomed. Having murdered ten women and one boy, Landru is finally captured and placed before a court of law. Eloquent in his protestations of innocence, he is confident that no jury will condemn a man of such intellect and breeding.

Cast

External links

''Landru''
at Films de France * * Italian crime drama films French crime drama films 1963 films Films set in the 1910s 1960s black comedy films 1960s crime drama films French biographical films Films directed by Claude Chabrol French serial killer films French black comedy films Films based on works by Françoise Sagan Cultural depictions of Henri Désiré Landru Cultural depictions of Georges Clemenceau 1963 comedy films 1963 drama films 1960s French films 1960s Italian films {{1960s-France-film-stub