Last updated on February 24, 2025
A film by Bruno Forzani , Hélène Cattet
With: Fabio Testi, Yannick Renier, Koen De Bouw, Maria de Medeiros, Thi-Mai Nguyen, Céline Camara, Kezia Quintal, Sylvia Camarda, Barbara Hellemans
When the mysterious woman in the room next door disappears, a debonair 70-year-old ex-spy living in a luxury hotel on the Côte d’Azur is confronted by the demons and darlings of a lurid past in which moviemaking, memories and madness collide.
Our rate: *(*)
It’s an essentially technical exercise, and a fine one at that, too, in editing, with its emphasis on sensory transitions to form a singular grammar. Mannered, even mannerist, the film recycles the myth of the spy movie, appropriating some of its codes and remixing them, between giallo and homage, between comic strips and experimental cinema, even nanardesque. The greatest success lies in the idea of proposing a material cinema, which is not so much interested in touch as Jan Švankmajer (The Conspirators of Pleasure), but in reflections, be they diamond chips on breasts, metallic dresses, mirrors or mirror balls, linked to a sea scenery with silver reflections. Aesthetics, throughout, have a name: D.I.S.C.O. as the song goes. But as for the rest, i.e. the substance, alas, good ideas are lacking, as if the entire budget had been spent on decoration :-). Only the visual experience is worth the detour, and not even the very static acting of Yannick Rénier, who is excellent in other roles.
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