Violette Noziere (1978)

In 1933, a petulant teenager (Isabelle Huppert) leads a double life. To her parents (Stephane Audran, Jean Carmet), she's a studious good girl but in reality, she's a lying, thieving, promiscuous syphilis ridden, homicidal tramp. Directed by Claude Chabrol, this is based on a notorious true crime. A role this juicy might cause a lesser actress to overact but Huppert (who won the Cannes film festival best actress award for her work here) gives a near brilliant and chilly portrayal of calculated immorality. Not only a solid portrait of a sociopath but a solid thriller as well. Curiously, the real Violette Noziere gained a large amount of public sympathy and was eventually pardoned and went on to marry and have five children. An excellent performance by Audran as Huppert's mother. With Bernadette Lafont, Jean Francois Garreaud and Dora Doll.