Summary
A stressed-out retail manager Hélène Masson takes up a course of therapy
at a centre run by the secretive Dr Devilers. At first, Hélène is
encouraged by Devilers’ apparent success with his other patients. But then
she becomes concerned when one of her fellow patients commits suicide. Later, one
of the Portuguese serving boys disappears after asking her for help. Hélène
soon realises that something is seriously wrong…
Review
This is a film that certainly lives up to its name. Traitement de choc is a bizarre
suspense thriller that culminates in a truly shocking ending. Although the
film is not particularly well made, it does make an interesting social comment about the
way that richer societies prey on poorer ones to enhance their lifestyles.
Alain Delon, who is chilling in his more familiar gangster role, is positively terrifying
in his role as the aptly-named Dr Devilers. His is a character that exploits his
evil practice with complete indifference to the moral issues, and yet who still has an
almost irresistible seductive charm.
The horror of the situation is well captured by Annie Girardot, who plays a character
who initially is prepared to do anything to stem her descent into middle-age. The
scenes where she becomes the hunted victim and when she uncovers the truth are almost
unbearably tense, and actually quite frightening.
When it was released, the film was noticeably less successful at the box office than contemporary
Delon films. Critics were quick to condemn the beach scene where most of the cast
(Delon and Girardot included) strip off and frolic about in the nude. This same
sequence later found its way on to a pornographic internet website...
© James Travers 2000
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