Diabolically Yours (1967)

Very Cool!!!

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

The acting in this movie is really good.

When a viewer watches a thriller directed by Julien Duvivier with Alain Delon and Senta Berger, his or her expectation is of at least of a great film. Unfortunately the swan song of Mr. Duvivier is an absolutely flawed and deceptive film, with a terrible storyline and a screenplay with many plot holes and lack of character development. The situations are absurd and unbelievable and the open ending disappointing. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "Diabolicamente Tua" ("Diabolically Yours")

"Diabolically Yours" from 1967 is a derivative film with parts of Gaslight, Vertigo, Diabolique, take your pick. Directed by Julian Duvivier, who would die in a car accident shortly after this film was made, the film stars Alain Delon and Senta Berger.Alain Delon wakes up from a three-week coma after a car accident, and he can't remember anything, not even this gorgeous woman who claims to be his wife Christiane (Berger). Apparently, he is a wealthy businessman named Georges Campo. He is brought to his palatial estate to recover, and he's mighty impressed. There's a doctor there (Sergio Fantoni) and a mysterious servant named Kim (Peter Mosbacher).It doesn't take Georges long to become suspicious of the whole setup. His wife won't have sex with him which for me is the most ludicrous part of the film, since it's Alain Delon we're talking about. The name Pierre Lagrange keeps going through his head, and he comes to believe he's a prisoner in the house and part of some plot. Voices in the night tell him he's going crazy and to kill himself, and his dreams are disturbing.The film keeps us in the dark as we wonder about Christiane's weird relationship with the servant, and just what the doctor's role is. Despite what you might guess as the film continues, it's actually quite intriguing. Both Delon and Berger are at the height of their eye-popping beauty. Delon brings humor to the role, as well as playing a confused but determined man. When Chistiane brings a decorator to the house, Delon playfully follows him around, mimicking the man's gait.Berger looks very sixties with her hair and fashions, looking like the ultimate '60s fashion model, chosen for her beauty. Today she remains not only a beautiful woman, but an incredibly accomplished actress and producer.The end of the movie won't be to everyone's taste. It wasn't mine.There is a lot to enjoy here, including the cinematography. In the end, it's a disjointed film but watchable.

"Diabolically Yours" uses the same tired old trope that dozens of other films from the 1930s onward have employed: a man wakes up in a hospital, not sure who he is, but suspecting that he's not who everyone says he is. If that man is the film's protagonist, we need to develop empathy for him. And the surest way to thwart any empathy is for the plot to make him a fool.Why would a man who began by being suspicious of the story he was being set in, and who found more things to be suspicious of at every turn, keep reacting in the most foolish and trusting way? In the interest of not giving spoilers, let me just say that you or I, finding ourselves in his position, would've behaved far more sensibly than Alain Delon's character does here. The real fault lies in the plot for simply recycling a predictable story line and requiring stupidity of the "hero" in order to make it play out.The film does offer two concession prizes: some appealing cinematography in the 1960s Eastmancolor process, and a cracking jazz score by François de Roubaix.

One never knows the truth of this thriller until it nearly ends, even when it is already over everyone is free to imagine the fate of the survivors. A person, supposedly George Campos (Alain Delon), had an a car accident and is hospitalized for a while. When he recovered his conscience he does not recognize his wife Christiane (Senta Berger), his friend Freddie (a psychiatrist) and all his properties. In that situation he acknowledged the beautifulness of his wife and decided to have sex with her, but she always unreasonably prevented it. Time passed and slowly George Campos remembered his real name, Pierre Lagrange. The psychiatrist warned him that he himself is G. Campo, but the latter had already no doubt of being poor ex-soldier Lagrange. One of the reasons was that his supposedly dog did not ever recognize him. He decided not to take anymore the recommended pills and discovered all truth. Among the thrillers in the French cinema this is perhaps one of its best.