Reflection in a Dead Diamond (Reflet dans un diamant mort)

There comes a point in Reflection in a Dead Diamond when the viewer can decide to just enjoy the extravagant visuals and sound and leave the convoluted plot and storyline to one side. Both are valid options but my advice would be to pay attention.

White suited John Diman (Fabio Testi) is sitting on a beach sipping cocktails, while another John (Yannick Renier) is out on a boat in trunks, with diamonds and a woman. Both have trappings of the glamour age of the spy at work and retired.

A narration over Bond type opening titles provides a story of power, money and corruption of which John is a key part. It soon becomes clear that John in white is John in trunks and that there may be characters from his past with a grudge.

What follows are crossing timelines tangling with the Giallo and spy film genres. The graphic stylised violence doesn’t leave any doubt about the former, the latter though has more in common with the capers of Flint and Matt Helm than the more po faced Bond.

The Giallo however is the most striking visually with the retina scarring colours, camera action, extravagant violence and almost unintelligible plot. As the film progresses there’s a masked killer in a leather catsuit sporting steel razor fingernails, sharpened steel stilettoes, and pretty much anything else that comes to hand. The damage they wreak is graphic.

And yet as wild as the visuals and audio are a more serious story starts to emerge and, in a sense, a tragic one. Elder John despite his appearance and residence in a high-class hotel on the French coast, doesn’t appear to have the resources. And young John is under pressure himself as in his line of work, time waits for no one.

All of this is carefully brought together by director Henry Levin, from a script by Donald Hamilton and Herbert Baker. It’s directed with a great deal of style and panache drawing on the elements described earlier either through homage or parody. In the end that doesn't matter as the film is a glorious visual and audio ride.

Reflection in a Dead Diamond is now available on Shudder.