Customer Reviews

Les Espions [Region 2]

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From the director of the superb 'Wages of Fear,' 'Les Diaboliques,' 'Le Corbeau/the Raven' and 'Quai des Orfevres,' this is definitely something of a disappointment, albeit certainly a fascinating one. Entertaining and interesting, yes, but more Clouseau than Clouzot, after a good start it turns into a remarkably broad and at times joyously unsubtle parody of espionage and political ideology set in a nursing home.

There's no suspense, merely an increasingly absurd succession of twists and outrageous characters, from Martita Hunt's vicious spy/nursing sister to Peter Ustinov's kleptomaniac/Russian spy via Sam Jaffe's paranoid Shakespeare teacher/CIA man, all after the mystery patient (Curd Jurgens in pajamas and sunglasses in a shuttered room) who may be a key scientist. And that's not mentioning the convention of ocarina players, the Germanic bartender or the garbage men who make no secret of spying on the establishment, or Vera Clouzot's mute mental patient...

More theatre of the Absurd than thriller, this must have mystified and confounded Clouzot's fans when it originally came out. It is full of ridiculously funny moments, at times seeming almost a forerunner of The Prisoner, but it does ultimately overstay its welcome. Not exactly a failure but certainly not a success, file under interesting curiosity.

The widescreen transfer is very good on the UK PAL DVD, although the extras are misleading - aside from a stills gallery and biographies, the trailer is actually for Les Diaboliques!

From the director of the superb 'Wages of Fear,' 'Les Diaboliques,' 'Le Corbeau/the Raven' and 'Quai des Orfevres,' this is definitely something of a disappointment, albeit certainly a fascinating one. Entertaining and interesting, yes, but more Clouseau than Clouzot, after a good start it turns into a remarkably broad and at times joyously unsubtle parody of espionage and political ideology set in a nursing home.

There's no suspense, merely an increasingly absurd succession of twists and outrageous characters, from Martita Hunt's vicious spy/nursing sister to Peter Ustinov's kleptomaniac/Russian spy via Sam Jaffe's paranoid Shakespeare teacher/CIA man, all after the mystery patient (Curd Jurgens in pajamas and sunglasses in a shuttered room) who may be a key scientist. And that's not mentioning the convention of ocarina players, the Germanic bartender or the garbage men who make no secret of spying on the establishment, or Vera Clouzot's mute mental patient...

More theatre of the Absurd than thriller, this must have mystified and confounded Clouzot's fans when it originally came out. It is full of ridiculously funny moments, at times seeming almost a forerunner of The Prisoner, but it does ultimately overstay its welcome. Not exactly a failure but certainly not a success, file under interesting curiosity.

The widescreen transfer is very good, although the extras are misleading - aside from a stills gallery and biographies, the trailer is actually for Les Diaboliques!