Like almost all of his films there is a murder. Unlike many of his films, however, a dead body is shown in the first scene and then we flashback to find out what lead to the crime.

The film is about two affluent families who have been joined through marriage for over three generations. The story begins when son Francois (Benoit Magimel) returns from America at the same time his mother Anne (Nathalie Baye) is set to run for political office in the town of Bordeaux. On the surface the family seems normal like any rich French family but under it all they are not so comfortable.

There are a few contentious issues. One is that Francois is dating his step sister / first cousin Michele (Melanie Doutey) and they will most certainly continue the two family connection. But the main conflict in the family is between the father Gerard (Bernard Le Coq) and everyone else – who includes his wife's aunt Aunt Line (Suzanne Flon) who loves the kids but doesn't much like him. What's more Aunt Line has some issues of her own and can remember way back during World War Two when her grandfather was a Nazi collaborator. A fact which not only plays against Anne in her political campaign but that has haunted Aunt Line her entire life.

It all seems complicated and convoluted but Chabrol develops the situations and the characters well enough (and slowly) that it all comes together in the end to a conclusion that is a bit obvious but ironic too. [There is even a scene where the characters play Scabble with the words they choose giving us clues]. The acting is also excellent and the cinematography is as good as any Chabrol film I've seen. That said, the overall story isn't in the league with some of Chabrol's better recent films like La Cérémonie and Merci pour le chocolat but it is still worth a look.

Video:
The DVD is presented in an aspect ratio of 1:85 to 1 and is formatted for 16 x 9 screens. The image quality looks very good with little or no edge enhancement or artifact detectable.

Audio:
The audio is presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital French.

Extras:
Extras are minimal and include filmographies that are laid out on a family tree so that we can figure out who each of the characters are and how they relate to one another. There is also a trailer, which makes the movie seem more like a highly charged thriller than it is.

Final Thoughts:
The Flower of Evil is a good character driven drama thriller from the great French master Claude Chabrol. The film is by-the-numbers in many ways but with good acting. The DVD has no quality extras.