Do not let Michel Bouquet's presence fool you.Yes, he was the prototype of the bourgeois Chabrolesque character at the turn of the decade, bourgeois people the director of "la femme infidèle" or "la rupture" despised.Chabrol's bite is terribly lacking here."La main à couper" is nothing more than a very trite detective story,including adultery,blackmail,murder...Hélène ,an antique dealer lives in a desirable property in the chic Neuilly with her husband and her two children.This respectable family will be involved in very dirty things ,but do not panic...Périer's film actually praises the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie.
