Bunker Palace Hotel

Connoisseurs of dire futures and admirers of the colour grey will find most to relish in this haunting but rather heartless picture. As civil war rages, a bunch of variously weird Establishment figures takes refuge in an underground hideaway staffed by erratically functioning robots. A shaven headed Trintignant, oozing sinister emollience, dominates the scene; his encounters with Bouquet, a tightlipped revolutionary who has infiltrated the group, are gripping. Bilal is a leading strip-cartoon artist (and designer for Alain Resnais) and his imaginary ash coloured setting is certainly striking. But finally the stylishness and the deadpan comedy seem attached to little beyond a skin deep misanthropy.