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Reflet dans un diamant mort

Reflection in a Dead Diamond
Competition 2025
© Cattet-Forzani
John is 70 years old and lives in solitary luxury in a grand hotel on the Côte d’Azur. He becomes intrigued by the woman in the room next door who reminds him of his wild years on the Riviera in the 1960s, back when he was a debonair international spy in a world brimming with peril and promise. But when the woman mysteriously disappears, John is beset by flashbacks – or perhaps fantasies – of his glamorous and grotesque past, and the alluring women and dastardly villains who lived and died there. With imagery that pays affectionate homage to the 1960s Eurospy genre and is tinged with playful gore, John’s reality becomes fragmented as he seeks to unravel the puzzle of his past. Memory, madness and moviemaking become increasingly difficult to separate. Are his old enemies back to wreak havoc on his idyllic life? Are there yet more conspiracies and treacheries waiting to be unmasked? Or has he simply been bewitched by the beautiful and dangerous lure of escapist cinema itself?
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by Hélène Cattet (Director, Screenplay), Bruno Forzani (Director, Screenplay)
with Fabio Testi, Yannick Renier, Koen De Bouw, Maria de Medeiros, Thi Mai Nguyen, Céline Camara, Kezia Quental, Sylvia Camarda Belgium / Luxembourg / Italy / France 2025 French, Italian, English 87' Colour & Black/White World premiere

With

  • Fabio Testi
  • Yannick Renier
  • Koen De Bouw
  • Maria de Medeiros
  • Thi Mai Nguyen
  • Céline Camara
  • Kezia Quental
  • Sylvia Camarda

Crew

Directors Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani
Screenplay Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani
Cinematography Manu Dacosse
Editing Bernard Beets
Sound Design Dan Bruylandt
Production Design Laurie Colson
Producer Pierre Foulon
Co-Producers Gilles Chanial, Simona Pelliccioli, François Cognard, Bart Van Langendonck, Dominique Marzotto, Lionel Guedj

Produced by

Kozak Films

Les Films Fauves

Dandy Projects

Tobina Film

Savage Film

To Be Continued

World Sales

True Colours

Photos

Press Conference

Red Carpet

Hélène Cattet

The filmmaker has collaborated with Bruno Forzani since 2000. After writing and directing several self-produced shorts, they made their debut feature film Amer in 2009. They followed it in 2012 with L’étrange couleur des larmes de ton corps as well as their contribution to the American anthology film The ABCs of Death. In 2017, they shot Laissez bronzer les cadavres, adapted from the eponymous book by Jean-Patrick Manchette and Jean-Pierre Bastid.

Filmography (selection)

2009 Amer; co-director: Bruno Forzani 2012 L’étrange couleur des larmes de ton corps (The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears); co-director: Bruno Forzani 2017 Laissez bronzer les cadavres (Let the Corpses Tan); co-director: Bruno Forzani 2025 Reflet dans un diamant mort (Reflection in a Dead Diamond); co-director: Bruno Forzani

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2025

Bruno Forzani

He has collaborated with Hélène Cattet since 2000. Reflet dans un diamant mort is the fourth feature film they have made together.

Filmography (selection)

2009 Amer; co-director: Hélène Cattet 2012 L’étrange couleur des larmes de ton corps (The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears); co-director: Hélène Cattet 2017 Laissez bronzer les cadavres (Let the Corpses Tan); co-director: Hélène Cattet 2025 Reflet dans un diamant mort (Reflection in a Dead Diamond); co-director: Hélène Cattet

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2025