Director Claude Chabrol cast Isabelle Huppert at the centre of one his most shocking and unforgettable thrillers, in which an illiterate maid of an affluent household falls under the influence of a mysterious postmistress, setting the stage for a tale of murder, violence, and betrayal.

Sophie (Sandrine Bonnaire), an efficient but maddeningly shy and unresponsive maid working for the upper-class family Lelievre, is hiding the fact that she is illiterate under the cloak of a perfect household and obedience. She loosens up however when she makes friends with the village eccentric Jeanne (Huppert) – a chippy postmistress with a grudge against the family – who encourages Sophie to stand up against her bourgeois employers. So when the family forbid Sophie from seeing Jeanne - whom they suspect of opening their mail - it paves the way toward an unspeakably violent denouement.

Both actresses are thrilling in this compelling tale of domestic unease. Bonnaire – who is as severe as a scrubbed-clean saint - and especially Huppert who keeps you guessing as to whether Jeanne is just a harmless kook or seriously unhinged. Its ambiguous title derives from an old French expression for the march to the guillotine (as well as a term to describe the games that servants and masters play) – and in both Huppert's performance and the story, Chabrol found a perfect fit for his penchant for hiding searing social commentary within his thrilling tale.

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