Alain Delon wakes up in a hospital after a serious car accident; he has amnesia and remembers neither his name nor the woman who says she's his wife (Senta Berger). She takes him home to recover; it seems he is a wealthy man who owns a construction company and has just moved to France from Hong Kong. He has a vague recollection of nightclubbing with family friend Sergio Fantone, but nothing else is familiar to him. Delon has a near-fatal accident in the barn, just misses being crushed by a falling chandelier, and starts hearing voices in the night telling him he's going mad. At this point, if not earlier, viewers who know the earlier (and similarly titled) French film DIABOLIQUE will figure out that Delon is indeed not really Berger's husband, but is the victim of a sort of "gaslighting" scheme being carried out by Berger, Fantone, and an odd man named Kim (Peter Mosbacher) who appears to be Berger's personal assistant, but is actually involved in some kind of sadomasochistic relationship with her. When Delon finds a dead body on the grounds, he begins to catch on, and the rest of the film plays out rather predictably. The plotting is creaky but generally it's fun following the twists and turns right up to an ending which throws one last twist into the mix. Part of the five-film Alain Delon set from Lionsgate. [DVD]
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
DIABOLICALLY YOURS (1967)
Alain Delon wakes up in a hospital after a serious car accident; he has amnesia and remembers neither his name nor the woman who says she's his wife (Senta Berger). She takes him home to recover; it seems he is a wealthy man who owns a construction company and has just moved to France from Hong Kong. He has a vague recollection of nightclubbing with family friend Sergio Fantone, but nothing else is familiar to him. Delon has a near-fatal accident in the barn, just misses being crushed by a falling chandelier, and starts hearing voices in the night telling him he's going mad. At this point, if not earlier, viewers who know the earlier (and similarly titled) French film DIABOLIQUE will figure out that Delon is indeed not really Berger's husband, but is the victim of a sort of "gaslighting" scheme being carried out by Berger, Fantone, and an odd man named Kim (Peter Mosbacher) who appears to be Berger's personal assistant, but is actually involved in some kind of sadomasochistic relationship with her. When Delon finds a dead body on the grounds, he begins to catch on, and the rest of the film plays out rather predictably. The plotting is creaky but generally it's fun following the twists and turns right up to an ending which throws one last twist into the mix. Part of the five-film Alain Delon set from Lionsgate. [DVD]
Alain Delon wakes up in a hospital after a serious car accident; he has amnesia and remembers neither his name nor the woman who says she's his wife (Senta Berger). She takes him home to recover; it seems he is a wealthy man who owns a construction company and has just moved to France from Hong Kong. He has a vague recollection of nightclubbing with family friend Sergio Fantone, but nothing else is familiar to him. Delon has a near-fatal accident in the barn, just misses being crushed by a falling chandelier, and starts hearing voices in the night telling him he's going mad. At this point, if not earlier, viewers who know the earlier (and similarly titled) French film DIABOLIQUE will figure out that Delon is indeed not really Berger's husband, but is the victim of a sort of "gaslighting" scheme being carried out by Berger, Fantone, and an odd man named Kim (Peter Mosbacher) who appears to be Berger's personal assistant, but is actually involved in some kind of sadomasochistic relationship with her. When Delon finds a dead body on the grounds, he begins to catch on, and the rest of the film plays out rather predictably. The plotting is creaky but generally it's fun following the twists and turns right up to an ending which throws one last twist into the mix. Part of the five-film Alain Delon set from Lionsgate. [DVD]
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