Blood Relatives [Les Liens de Sang] *** (1978, Donald Sutherland, Stéphane Audran, Donald Pleasence, David Hemmings, Aude Landry, Lisa Langlois) – Classic Movie Review 6268

This dark and mysterious 1978 sexual crime mystery chiller with an incest theme comes from the renowned French director Claude Chabrol, who gives his bleak-toned adaptation of an Ed McBain novel a touch of class.

Donald Sutherland provides his usual full-blooded turn as the Montreal police homicide detective Inspector Steve Carella, investigating the brutal murder of a teenage girl (Lisa Langlois), in Chabrol’s intriguing, tensely handled French-Canadian mystery thriller film Blood Relatives [Les Liens de Sang]. Carella is helped by the girl’s younger cousin Patricia Lowery (Aude Landry), who says she saw the killer and just escaped herself.

Chabrol’s taut, spare and terse direction and the sterling efforts of the fine players keep the difficult subject matter intriguing, even if the drama is too drawn out in the screenplay by Chabrol and Sydney Banks, and the tension is too long in coming to the boil.

As well as Donald Sutherland, Lisa Langlois, Aude Landry, it also stars Stéphane Audran, Donald Pleasence, David Hemmings and Laurent Malet.

Also in the cast are Micheline Lanctot, Walter Massey, Ian Ireland, Guy Hoffman, Marguerite Lemir, Greg Gianis and John King.

Blood Relatives [Les Liens de Sang] runs 100 minutes, is made by Cinevideo-Filmel, is released by Astral Video, is shot in Montréal, Québec, Canada, by Jean Rabier, is produced by Denis Heroux and is scored by Howard Blake.

The film came three years after its 87th Precinct source novel Blood Relatives by Evan Hunter (writing as Ed McBain) was published. Steve Carella in the main character of the 87th Precinct series.

It was first released in France on 1 February 1978 and then in Canada on 8 September 1978.

Blood Relatives was filmed under Canada’s policy allowing full tax deferment to foreign-produced films reflecting a specific portrait of Canada, so the novel’s thinly-veiled setting of New York City was changed to Montréal. Donald Sutherland is a Canadian actor and Lisa Langlois is a Canadian actress.

French cinematographer Jean Rabier (16 March 1927 – 15 February 2016) worked frequently with Claude Chabrol.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6268

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