French director Claude Chabrol was never romantic. He was a great director of the truth. In the more than 50 films he made over a half century, he never wanted to idealize his characters, but rather get as close as possible to some sort of human truth. That's something we really had in common from the beginning, without even talking about it. It was pure intuition and instinct between us. That's the reason we ended up doing all those movies together. He never talked on set. I've seen some actors unnerved by that, but that was fine for me. That way he directed his actors was more true, through staging rather than any verbal cues. It was the way you were filmed — close-ups, long-distance shots — that told the story. His camera was like a pen.
—Isabelle Huppert
Huppert, an actress, starred in several Chabrol films including Violette and Merci pour le Chocolat