Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno

Henri-Georges Clouzot was “the French Hitchcock”. His thrillers Les Diaboliques and The Wages of Fear had been massive hits all over the world. In 1964, at the height of his success, he embarked on a study of sexual obsession and jealousy starring Romy Schneider, and titled L’enfer (“Hell”). Determined that this would be his greatest work, he set out to revolutionize the medium through his use of colour optical effects. Clouzot began tests with his star. He had an unlimited budget, and no completion date. It would prove a recipe for disaster… In making a study of obsession, Clouzot himself lost his mind.

This award-winning documentary by archivist Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea interviews surviving cast and crew, reconstructs the bare bones of the film that never was, but more than anything it gives us yards of Clouzot’s extraordinary test footage, some of the most remarkable colour experimentation you will ever see.

You might also like: Our new Film Studies series, Creating Colour, running Monday afternoons from Aug 19.

This assemblage of lost footage is perhaps more fascinating than the actual completed film would have been

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Dread, fascination, sex, colour and deep weirdness all add up to something that is positively mesmerizing.

Dorothy Woodend, The Tyee

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