REFLECTION IN A DEAD DIAMOND (2025)

Streaming on Shudder from True Colours!
Directed/Written by Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani.
Check out the trailer here!

A retired spy named John D. (Fabio Testi) regrets never solving that one big case, but he has another chance when his neighbor disappears and he believes his old adversaries are back for revenge.

If you haven’t seen the work of Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, you’re in for a treat. They are the filmmaking duo responsible for some of the most vivid and creative films you will ever see. They hop genres, often combining numerous ones in the same movie, making each film distinct and almost incomparable to other films, but at the same time, offer up the specific styles of an era of filmmaking that is no more, sadly. AMER was a Giallo masterpiece, mixing spine-tingling horror with psychological and generational abuse. LET THE CORPSES TAN is a wonderful mix of Italian heist films, spaghetti westerns, and the violence that littered the grindhouse era. THE STRANGE COLOR OF YOUR BODY’S TEARS is a multi-layered mystery mixing sordid acts with suspicion and paranoia. Each film is distinct and vivid to the limit of what a single eye can take in.

With REFLECTION IN A DEAD DIAMOND, Cattet and Forzani offer up their take on the spy thriller with a surprising twist of the superhero genre tossed in for good measure. Once again, the story is almost secondary as these filmmakers are all about visuals; delivering odd angles, strange patterns, and unique imagery. There is never a shot focused on some kind of banality. Nothing is wasted. Every shot is an attempt at picturing something that hasn’t been seen before. So much work is put into every bit of this film, from the fantastic retro-Italian music to the spy movie cliches with even some animated and comic book panels tossed in when the ideas might be too big for the budget. Cattet and Forzani are masters at making everything in frame look diabolically interesting.

For the longest time, there were rumors that Sean Connery would return for a Bond film set during his elder years. This film is the closest thing we are going to get to that type of movie as REFLECTION IN A DEAD DIAMOND has all of the elements any good spy thriller must have. There are the fun gadgets, such as John D.’s ring that allows him to see through walls and a dress made of deadly coins. John D. drives only the most extravagant of sports cars and lives the most luxurious of lives while retired on his beach resort. But his intuition is still sharp when he notices something is off with those around him. Or at least, that’s what he thinks. It’s a fantastic premise decorated from top to bottom with some of the most elegant, twisted, and strange images you’ll ever see.

As with every detective, spy, or superhero story, the hero must have his female counterpart who is just out of reach. For Batman, it’s Catwoman. For Sherlock Holmes, it’s Irene Adler. For Bond, it’s Moneypenny, I guess, though I think Bond ended up bagging her in a few movies. Here, for John D. it’s Serpentik (Thi Mai Nguyen), a mistress of disguise who shows up periodically through John’s life and definitely is the one who got away. After a vivid flashback showing their last meeting, a caper gone sideways, John finds himself on the trail of Serpentik again as an older man. Or…at least, that’s what we are lead to believe.

You see, among all of the spy cliches, genius editing, and dream-like imagery, the film shies away from letting the reader know whether all this spy stuff actually happened, or if John D. simply played the character in a movie he acted in, or if all of it is just something that comes up in an old man’s wild imagination. The filmmakers drop hints all over the place of the truth, but of course, that is in the eye of the beholder. Whether or not John D.’s memories are accurate or not is not really important. It’s what he does with them now in the present that matters most. It’s a fun meta-way of looking at a person who may or may not have lived an over the top life and whether it is real or not doesn’t really matter in the end when we are old and alone. Existentially bleak? Sure, but what else would you expect from this filmmaking team that never gives away all of their cards, not even by the time the credits roll.

What’s most important is that this is a film unlike anything you’ve seen before, which makes four in a row for Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani. The action is high stakes. There’s a fight scene in a pub that is beyond extreme. The spy stuff is cool as the pillow the cool side of the pillow sleeps on. The gadgets, cars, and lifestyle come from a Bond film that never was but should have been, and now is, in a way. The super-powered assassins are mesmerizing, displaying powers and weaponry never seen in any old Marvel or DC film. Sure, it is artsy and never tells the viewer what to think, but REFLECTION IN A DEAD DIAMOND is a treat for any genre fan looking for something entirely unique. Though it’s not necessarily horror, REFLECTION IN A DEAD DIAMOND is one of my favorite genre films of the year and deserves to be seen. Highly recommended.