BERLIN - Reflet dans un diamant mort, in Competition at the Berlinale, from the directing duo Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, is a work that explores the elusive nature of reality, the power of memories, and the influence of the past on the present. Cinephile tributes to the aesthetics and imagery of the 60s with elements typical of the psychological thrillers and noir cinema of that period, abound in the story which takes place on the French Riviera, where seventy-year-old John D, a former spy, lives alone in a luxury hotel. When the fascinating woman in the next-door room disappears without a trace, he experiences a series of mental associations that take him back to the Sixties, his golden age when he was a brilliant and appreciated spy. Memories force him to confront the demons of the past and question his own sanity, while the narrative advances through a mix of memories, madness and cinematic references, where the intersection of reality and imagination becomes increasingly blurred in a comic book-like, timeless, dreamlike atmosphere, which seems to reflect the protagonist's inner state.
In the role of the fascinating lead character, lynchpin for the story, is Fabio Testi, an Italian actor with over a hundred films under his belt who is at the Berlin Film Festival for the first time, and the perfect representation of the cinematographic era to which the film pays affectionate homage.
"I’ve never worked on a set like this”, he says, “with such detailed preparation, different shots for each individual scene which require their own storyboards. Then I went to Brussels for the dubbing and spent an entire day doing the character's breathing. A kind man told me: breathe with your mouth open, with your mouth closed, half and half. All this for a whole day”.
The plot is mainly set on the French Riviera, a place chosen to represent luxury and decadence, the symbol of a once glorious past, as Hélène Cattet explains: "The French Riviera is a place of illusions and appearances, which make it an ideal setting. In the 1960s, European spy films and other Italian B-movies used the glamour and luxury of the French Riviera to make their audiences dream and give prestige to their plots. Bruno is originally from there and this film was also a way to revisit places we know and integrate them into our imagination. The French Riviera is key to the film and the plot was written with that setting in mind".
Despite the explicit setting of the plot, however, a significant part of the filming took place in Liguria. Ventimiglia, Sanremo, Genoa and Santa Margherita Ligure provided locations. The shoot, which lasted about a month, had the assistance of the Genova Liguria Film Commission, which supported the production in the selection of locations and in logistics.
“Reflet dans un Diamant Mort” is an international co-production that brings together Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Italy. For Italy, the production company Dandy Projects played a key role in the making of the film. The project benefited from a €220,000 grant from the Directorate-General for Cinema and Audiovisual of the Italian Ministry of Culture, assigned through the 2022 Call for Minority Productions. The international distribution of the film is entrusted to the Italian True Colours - Glorious Films.