Synopsis
American writer and poet William Brandels (Bruce Dern) lives in a state of 'frustrated success', as he can afford a lavish Paris apartment but is denied a much-coveted writer's award. William neglects his 40-ish but extremely attractive spouse Claire (Stéphane Audran). Needy for affection and further frustrated by the amorous dalliances of her live-in niece Nathalie (Sydney Rome), Claire has been carrying on an affair with William's editor, Jacques Lavolet (Jean-Pierre Cassel). But she becomes enraged when she sees William leaving the apartment of his research assistant, Charlie Minerva (Ann-Margret). Hiring an eccentric detective (Tomas Milian) to learn more about Charlie, Claire begins to fantasize William having sex with every woman he knows, including Nathalie. Her way of cutting off the affair is to forge William's signature on a bill of sale for his beloved apartment, forcing their move to the country. Becoming bored and resentful, William heads back to Paris, to ask Charlie to ...
Credits
Director (1)
Actors (31)
Production and distribution (4)
- Executive Producer : Barnabé Productions
- Foreign production companies : C.C.C. Filmkunst, Gloria-Film GmbH
- Film exports/foreign sales : StudioCanal Films Limited
- French distribution : F.F.C.M./Alpha France
Full credits (12)
- Executive Producer : Pierre Spengler
- Screenwriters : Ennio De Concini, Claude Chabrol, Norman Enfield, Maria Pia Fusco
- Director of Photography : Jean Rabier
- Music Composer : Manuel De Sica
- Editor : Monique Fardoulis
- Sound Recordist : Guy Chichignoud
- Foreign producers : Artur Brauner, Ilya Salkind
- Author of original work : Lucie Faure
- Camera Operator : Yves Agostini
- Continuity supervisor : Aurore Chabrol
- Artistic Director : Maurice Sergent
- Still Photographer : Georges Pierre
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Technical details
- Type : Feature film
- Genres : Fiction
- Sub-genre : Psychological drama
- Production language : French
- Coproducer countries : France, Germany, Italy
- Original French-language productions : Unspecified
Box-office & releases
TV broadcasting
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News & awards
About
Critical reception
Glenn Erickson of Turner Classic Movies:
“The story cannot decide whether it is a romantic farce, a serious look at relationships, or a setup for a series of erotic daydreams experienced by a troubled married couple... The Twist is a confused and halfhearted comedy of manners that never decides on an approach to its subject... Although the film does have a few interesting moments, it is cluttered with pointless digressions and unfunny comedy. Not surprisingly, director Chabrol all but disowned The Twist. It's tempting to suggest that the film's many ill-used stars were shoehorned into the movie by the producing triumvirate of Alexander & Illya Salkind and Pierre Spengler, who made the Chabrol film between their smash international hits The Three Musketeers and Superman: The Movie. Claude Chabrol has a brief cameo in The Twist, as "another person in the room" at the office of William's publisher. The director averaged a film a year for 56 years. His fans will want to see this show despite the fact that it is rated dead last among his works.”
Michael Barrett of "PopMatters":
“Chabrol’s typical themes don’t fit so well into wacky-comedy mode (given that French wacky comedies usually are no funnier than American ones) and not so easily into surreal-fantasy mode either. The chicly transgressive dreams seem intended to remind us of Luis Buñuel’s French films of this era, but it suffers in the comparison. Where the film wants to be frothy and sexy, it looks grating. What tries to look smart looks dumb."
Source : Wikipedia