A rich and powerful patriarch faces the end with a household full of women scheming against him in “The Origin of Evil,” a clever and twisty French thriller that’s a little bit “King Lear” and a little bit more “Sucession.”

Sébastien Marnier’s film invites us to root for this or that character amongst the schemers depicted here — old man Serge (Jacques Weber) being out-manuevered by his vindictive daughter George (Doria Tillier), being bled dry by his hatefully-spendthrift wife Louise (Dominique Blanc), being robbed by their adored but sneaky cook and housekeeper Agnes (Véronique Ruggia), the granddaughter (Céleste Brunnquell) who may be a mere observer, but one prone to taking sides.

And then there’s the struggling fish-packing plant worker, the long lost illegitimate child given a man’s name, like his other daughter. Stephane (Laure Calamy) has just tracked Serge down.

“No no, I don’t want anything,” she insists to him. But we’ve seen her parlous, messy life, the room she’s renting being taken away, the calls she keeps making to Toulon Prison.

Just when you start to figure out one character is worth pulling for, their greed, their sketchy past, their anti-semitism, homophobia or what-have-you bubbles up.

Louise suffers from “syllogomania” and their Porqueralles villa is stuffed with junk, the phone constantly in her hands, the TV constantly tuned to whatever French home shopping network has her attention today.

“I know she does it to piss me off,” Serge tells his newfound daughter (in French with English subtitles).

Agnes the maid avails herself of whatever prizes Louise can’t keep track of as she stores it all.

George runs her father’s businesses “American style,” and loathes every breath he takes.

“Stop, you’re breaking my heart,” he cracks at some feigned slight.

“We can rip it out, too,” she threatens. George is obviously the one most afraid of new “sister” Stephane’s arrival, telling her “Don’t come back.”

But Stephane has seen the opulence, the comfortable life. And we know she’s lied about her job to her father, and she won’t produce ID for George.

Director Marnier (“School’s Out”) and co-writer Fanny Burdino give us motives and give away character flaws that throw us off the scent as they direct, re-direct and misdirect our loyalties.

Calamy, of the recent “Two Tickets to Greece” and “My Donkey, My Lover and I,” makes our central character smiling yet mysterious, just polished and performative enough to wonder about and just cunning enough to root for, no matter what we find out about her.

She can’t be worse than anybody else, right? Her “new family” ranges from dizzy and rude to treacherous and downright dangerous.

Weber gives Serge shades of “a man in full,” hints of entitlement mixed with aged regrets he claims he does not harbor because “we all make mistakes.” Failing health or not, we cannot underestimate him.

That’s true of everything in this confection of a mystery. We’re forever being shown how we don’t really know what cruelty this character is capable of, the kindness of another, the extremes each will go to cultivate her or his self-interest.

It’s not “Lear” or “Knives Out” or “Succession,” but “The Origin of Evil” works, a thriller that keeps you guessing as it keeps time like a pretty good French knockoff Swiss watch.

Rating: R, violence, nudity, sex

Cast: Laure Calamy, Jacques Weber, Dominique Blanc, Doria Tillier, Véronique Ruggia, Céleste Brunnquell and Suzanne Clément.

Credits: Directed by Sébastien Marnier, scripted by Fanny Burdino and Sébastien Marnier. An IFC release.

Running time: 2:02