Veteran director Claude Chabrol directs this film from a script written by director Henri-Georges Clouzot, which he began filming in 1964 but who suffered a heart attack and had to abandon filming. Set in provincial South-West France, a young couple marry and have a son. They run a gourmet hotel and are very happy for a few years. However, the husband Paul becomes increasingly jealous of his wife Nelly, suspecting her of having an affair with Martineau, the local mechanic. Paul's jealousy leads him to increasingly extreme measures; following his wife, taking her to the doctors and even beating and brutally raping her. Chabrol is in familiar territory, documenting the provincial claustrobia and acrimonious marital breakdown.