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Fantômas - L'Étreinte du Diable
episode 2
France/West Germany 1980
produced by Claude Barma, Denis Mermet for Antenne 2, Hamster Films, ZDF, TV 60
directed by Juan Luis Buñuel
starring Helmut Berger, Jacques Dufilho, Pierre Malet, Gayle Hunnicutt, Jean-Paul Zehnacker, Hélène Peychayrand, Serge Bento, Pierre Douglas, Michel Peyrelon, Raoul Delfosse, Dominique Bernard, Jean Rougerie, Fabrice Luchini
screenplay by Bernard Revon, based on the novel Juves contre Fantômas by Pierre Souvestre, Marcel Allain, music by Georges Delerue
TV-series Fantomas, Fantomas (Helmut Berger)
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Inspector Juve (Jacques Dufilho) and his assistant Fandor (Pierre
Malet) are after criminal Lupart (Jean-Paul Zehnacker) this time around, a
villain who has the habit of invariably announcing his crimes and then get
away with the loot anyways. This time he announces robbing Dr Chalek
blind, and even if Juve and Fandor lie in waiting to catch Lupart
red-handed, he doesn't only get away with the loot, he also leaves a
disfigured-beyond-recognition human corpse behind. And he announces his
next crime as well, to kill Joséphine (Hélène Peychayrand), his moll
who was only recently sent to the hospital for food poisoning. There's no
indication whatsoever why he wants to do it, but he announces it anyways.
In the hospital, at the announced time, a gunshot misses Joséphine only
by a few inches. Weird detail - Dr Chalek works at the hospital this is
happening. A few days later, Chalek, Lupart and Joséphine (who was in
league with Lupart all along) are gone, and Juve and Fandor find out the
disfigured corpse is Lady Beltham's (Gayle Hunnicutt), who just happens to
have been Fantomas' (Helmut Berger) true love. With her corpse, our heroes
find a confession in which they learn Fantomas was both Chalek and Lupart
- not too big a surprise for the audience mind you. Somehow, Juve and
Fandor manage to track down Joséphine - only to see her killed by causes
unknown before their very eyes. And then suddenly, Lady Beltham turns up
alive again, and Fantomas actually has only forged her confession to ...
oh, I give up, no idea. Anyways, ultimately Fantomas lures Juve and Fandot
into Lady Beltham's former mansion which he has boobytrapped, and in the
explosion that ensues, Juve is killed ... but then again, is he? This
second episode of the Fantomas TV-series tries incredibly
hard to be clever ... and just fails. Basically, the plot is of course
incredibly complex and intentionally convoluted - it just makes little
sense. Besides Juve and Fandor, all characters lack motivation, the story
seems to be all over the place and lacks anything resembling stringency,
and there simply is no narrative tension or suspense involved here at all.
Add to this a very uninspied directorial effort, and you're left with ...
well, not all that much.
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