Film Details

The story of a film that was never made, this fascinating documentary chronicles the ill-fated attempt by celebrated French director of The Wages of Fear and Diabolique to shoot a long-planned movie entitled Inferno during the 1960s. Starring Romy Schneider and Serge Reggiani, the movie, a tale of pathological jealousy, was going to incorporate some radical visual and sonic experiments worthy of the op-art era. Fortunately, among the 15 hours of footage that survive from this unrealized project are the shimmering, psychedelic color test reels featuring the 26-year-old (and sometimes nude) Schneider. Suplementing these dazzling screen tests are other rushes from the film—all unseen for decades—as well as interviews with surviving crew members (like Costa-Gavras) and reenactments of Inferno’skey scenes. Subtitles. DCP. 94 min.