Traitement de Choc

Jessua's first two films, Life Upside Down and Comic Strip Hero, attracted little more than good notices over here, so his third was distributed as an exploitation picture retitled in honour of Delon's cock-flashing sequence. Don't be misled, since the film is actually a political allegory fashioned as a horror story. Girardot, visiting Dr Devilers' clifftop clinic for rejuvenation treatment, discovers behind the futuristic settings a nightmare world of primeval instincts and ruthless logic that holds no place for the weak. Jessua handles his mixture of suspense and satire with assurance, drawing fine performances from Girardot, confused and finally uncertain of her sanity, and Delon as the diabolic yet half-sympathetic doctor in whose arms she finds herself. A neat cautionary tale on human vanity cum fable about hypocrisy.