Les Espions (1957)
Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot

Film Review

Henri-Georges Clouzot followed his masterful and hugely successful suspense thriller Les Diaboliques (1955) with this perplexing parody thriller, a far less satisfactory work that proved to be something of a commercial embarrassment.  Despite a remarkable international cast - which includes Peter Ustinov and Curd Jürgens - Les Espions fails to ignite in the way that Clouzot's earlier thrillers did.  The laboured, uninspired direction does little to sustain the interest of the spectator as the torturously complex plot thickens without any let up towards its utterly baffling, unresolved denouement.  The film's only real selling point is the dark, slightly surreal humour that Clouzot manages to inject into the film.  If only he had gone the whole hog and made this a black comedy rather than a half-hearted spy parody it may have been a far more interesting and rewarding film.

Film Synopsis

Dr Malic, a failed psychiatrist, runs a somewhat shabby clinic.  One day, he is approached by a stranger, Colonel Howard, and offered a large sum of money if he will agree to accommodate a secret agent named Alex.  Malic is no position to turn down the more than generous offer, but as soon as the newcomer arrives the doctor suspects something is amiss.  Everyone with whom he comes into contact, including his staff and his patients, has been replaced by a stranger with a foreign accent.

Is it possible that the entire clinic has been overtaken by spies?  And if so, for what purpose - to keep a close watch on the mysterious Alex?  It suddenly dawns on Malic that the man calling himself Alex is someone of immense importance.  This is Hugo Vogel, the nuclear physicist who has recently perfected a powerful weapon of mass destruction.  With the intention of assisting Vogel, Malic sets out to confuse the spies, but in doing so he puts in jeopardy Colonel Howard's ingenious plan to prevent the real Vogel from falling into the hands of a foreign power...