Folies bourgeoises

French-Italian-West German co-production from French director and co-writer Claude Chabrol is an alleged comedy adapted from Lucie Faure's novel "Le Malheur Fou" (translated as The Mad Misfortune). Misfortune, indeed! Story concerns the frustrated marriage of two writers in Paris, a put-upon American (a hopelessly miscast Bruce Dern) and his sex-hungry spouse (Stéphane Audran). One feels the actors must have owed Chabrol a favor, but what he does to them on-screen is beyond contempt. Ann-Margret's acclaimed turn in "Tommy" the year before surprisingly opened very few new doors for the actress--or maybe it was just her choices that were terrible. This one's as bad as they come. NO STARS from ****