France 1979 124m Directed by: Hugo Santiago. Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Sami Frey, Antoine Vitez, Anne Parillaud, Florence Delay, François Dyrek, Jean-François Stévenin, Didier Haudepin, Robert Cahen, Gilbert Adair, Jacques Plee, Jacques Brécourt, Coralie Clément. Music by: Michel Portal.
The young aristocrat Arnaud de Maule hires female private detective Claude Alphand to investigate a strange cult, the Church of the Final Revival, that tried to recruit his girlfriend Chloé, who then disappeared, and is now stalking him.
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I've just seen the first 50 minutes of this on TV5 Monde and gave up. I'm glad that other reviewers have found the plot incomprehensible; I thought it was just my French. I agree it has a certain mysterious charm and Catherine Deneuve certainly looks her stunning best but the quality of the acting is abysmal and no character generated a scintilla of sympathy or interest for me. Like so many French films, it's strangely compelling despite its flaws and apparent lack of plot logic - perhaps it's the beauty of the château or the anticipation that some clue to purpose of the characters' activities is suddenly going to appear; I'm not sure it deserves to be described as dramatic tension though. It reminded me of the Avengers without the humour and of The Prisoner without the menace and innovation.
Review by heau from the Internet Movie Database.