The golden age of spies is over. Their sins are not.
John D, a septuagenarian living in a luxury hotel on Côte d’Azur, is intrigued by his next-door neighbor who reminds him of the wildest hours on the Riviera during the 1960s. At that time, he was a spy in a rapidly developing world full of promise. One day, this neighbor mysteriously disappears… bringing John face to face with his demons: are his former adversaries back to wreak havoc in his idyllic world?
John D. (Fabio Testi/Yannick Renier) is enjoying his retirement in a luxury hotel on the French Riviera, but when his neighbor disappears, John finds himself haunted by his past as a spy in the 1960s. It was an era of glamour, where flamboyant villains cavorted and diamonds glittered. Through a fragmented narrative in which past and present start to blur, John’s own demons begin to reemerge. The latest film by husband-and-wife team Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, Reflection in a Dead Diamond is a sexy yet brutal throwback to 60s surrealism. An in-your-face homage to classic spy fare that casts a contemporary eye on the gender politics of the era. The locales are as gorgeous as the action scenes are vicious — full of broken glass and rusty fish hooks. Featuring sumptuous production design, snappy editing and self-reflexive twitches, Reflection in a Dead Diamond offers frenetic spectacle for the discerning genre fan. Yet for all its flash, there is a haunted story simmering beneath its reflective surfaces.
