Writers and Directors: Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani
You would be forgiven for thinking you were getting an entirely different film based on the synopsis for Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s Reflection in a Dead Diamond screening at the BFI London Film Festival 2025, one more akin to a European interpretation of Hercule Poirot story than the 60s and 70s Bond meets comic book satire that it proves to be. Using a live action graphic novel style and plenty of references to classic spy movies – most notably the title sequences from classic era James Bond movies – Cattet and Forzani take some time to establish the plot and purpose in a sustained if overstylised approach that alienates more than it engages.
On a beautiful island an elderly man is disturbed by the unexplained death of a young woman he has been watching. Unable to pay his hotel bill, the man is looking for Serpentik, an old nemesis that he remembers from the 60s, a Catwoman to his Batman. Drawn back to relive his memories, the mystery of who Serpentik is becomes mixed up with a young action hero figure and a series of violent deaths related to diamonds.
Reflection in a Dead Diamond blends reality and fiction, cutting constantly between what appears to be different stories, an elaborate high-stakes spy film that pays homage to an earlier era of psychedelic and sometimes melodramatic action filmmaking, while also presenting a more sedate modern-day piece which feels like the setting for an Agatha Christie murder. Cattet and Forzani’s purpose only slowly emerges and is likely to test the patience of its audience long before this with its constant stylisation and choppy approach to storytelling that keeps everything – including the visuals – in a state of flux.
Sticking with it and a shape emerges that ticks off classic tropes – a burnt-out spy know only as John is out for vengeance when his partner is killed, megalomaniac villains and comic book henchmen whose bloody end is given graphic form with a Tarantino like silliness. There’s also lots to enjoy in Laurie Colson’s production design that recreates the multiple eras well. Yannick Renier and Fabio Testi both have fun with the character of John
Whether any of this is real, if the old man is the same John as the action hero or an actor who once played him losing his memory is something the film never pursues which is a shame, it would have made for a better trajectory if Reflection in a Dead Diamond was actually a piece about memory loss and aging. It is tiresome to still to see an awful lot of female nudity – most of it unnecessary even in tribute – but there is a strong assassin character in Serpentik who wears the face of multiple women. What face this film wears changes from moment to moment and is sure to divide opinion.
Reflection in a Dead Diamond is screening at the BFI London Film Festival 2025 from 8-19 October.
