Wild Promo Trailer for ‘Reflection in a Dead Diamond’ French Fantasy
by Alex Billington
March 14, 2025
Source: YouTube
💎 Cineart has revealed the first trailer for a crazy trippy, avant garde film from France titled Reflection in a Dead Diamond, the latest from filmmaking duo Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani. This recently premiered at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival in the Main Competition. It’s the latest from the filmmakers who also made The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears and Let the Corpses Tan, for anyone into wacky, abstract cinema. Filmed on the Côte d’Azur in France, a retired spy suspects his former adversaries have resurfaced when his intriguing neighbor vanishes. It’s a peculiar, twisted, heady film featuring all kinds of things going on – mysterious women clad in all black leather, diamond thieves, lots of beautiful shots of the Mediterranean, a woman brandishing a very nice sword, and much more. Starring Fabio Testi, Yannick Renier, Koen De Bouw, Maria de Medeiros, and Thi Mai. There’s no dialogue in this trailer so no worries, it’s all about the visuals anyway. Is this a classic case of art house style over substance or is there something more here? Reviews explain it’s not about the story, it’s “an homage to and a deconstruction of genre, layering its self-reflexive and meta-textual dimensions to examine the fluidity of identity, memory, and sanity.” Hmm okay.
Here’s the first promo trailer for Cattet & Forzani’s film Reflection in a Dead Diamond, from YouTube:
Original synopsis via Berlinale: “John is 70 years old and lives in solitary luxury in a grand hotel on the Côte d’Azur. He becomes intrigued by the woman in the room next door who reminds him of his wild years on the Riviera in the 1960s, back when he was a debonair international spy in a world brimming with peril and promise. But when the woman mysteriously disappears, John is beset by flashbacks – or perhaps fantasies – of his glamorous and grotesque past, and the alluring women and dastardly villains who lived and died there. With imagery that pays affectionate homage to the 1960s Eurospy genre and is tinged with playful gore, John’s reality becomes fragmented as he seeks to unravel the puzzle of his past. Memory, madness and moviemaking become increasingly difficult to separate. Are his old enemies back to wreak havoc on his idyllic life? Are there yet more conspiracies and treacheries waiting to be unmasked? Or has he simply been bewitched by the beautiful and dangerous lure of escapist cinema itself?” What a question…
Reflection in a Dead Diamond, originally known as Reflet dans un diamant mort in French, is written and directed by the French artists / indie filmmaking duo Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani, both directors of the films Amer, The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears, and Let the Corpses Tan previously, plus lots of short films and other projects. Produced by Pierre Foulon. This recently premiered at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival earlier this year playing in the Main Competition, and will show up at other festivals. It’s currently set for release in France starting July 2025 this summer. No US release date is set – stay tuned for updates.
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