Diaboliquement vôtre (1968)
Directed by Julien Duvivier

Film Review

Julien Duvivier ended his long and distinguished film career with this taut psychological thriller, a popular genre and an unashamedly populist kind of film.  Alain Delon, the hottest young actor in France at the time, is cast in the lead role, exploiting his obvious sex appeal and talent for playing tough macho yet sympathetic heroes.

Whilst the plot is a little pedestrian, Duvivier manages to create a compelling work, with strong characters, a well-structured narrative and effective use of suspense.  There are a few embarrassingly bad moments (notably the clichéd-to-death chandelier sequence), and the ending is painfully contrived, but overall the film isn't a bad parting shot from Julien Duvivier.

It may not be Pépé-le-Moke, but Diaboliquement vôtre is rather a satisfying piece of escapist fun, prettily filmed and with some very dark undercurrents.  The most memorable thing about this film is its opening credit sequence, which shows a dizzying point-of-view shot of someone driving a car at great speed down country lanes before, inevitably, crashing.  Julien Duvivier died in a car accident shortly after the film was completed.

Film Synopsis

A man wakes up in hospital after a near-fatal road accident but finds he has lost his memory.  It appears that he is Georges Campo, a successful businessman with interests in the Far East.  He has a large fortune, an impressive country mansion and a beautiful wife, Christine.  He recognises his doctor, Frédéric Launay, but Christine is a complete stranger to him.  Georges is given drugs to help him recover from his amnesia but he cannot help feeling that something is a miss.  If he really is Christine's husband, why is she so unwilling to sleep with him?  Why does he keep recalling things that do not fit with what he has been told about himself?  He has vague memories of military service in Algeria - memories that Georges Campo cannot possibly have.  And there is a name that keeps coming to him - Pierre Lagrange.  Who is Pierre Lagrange?  As he struggles to recover his lost past, Georges suspects that someone is trying to murder him.  Two 'near misses' are explained away as accidents.  One night, he decides not to take the tablets that Launay has given him.  He is woken by a voice that tells him he is mad and must kill himself.  He recognises the voice.  It is Christine...