Crazy Funky US Trailer for ‘Reflection in a Dead Diamond’ Spy Thriller
by Alex Billington
November 6, 2025
Source: YouTube
“This is the brain on cinema!” Shudder has revealed the official US trailer for a wild and, avant garde film from France titled Reflection in a Dead Diamond, the latest from filmmaking duo Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani. It’s finally out to watch in the US soon – streaming on Shudder starting in December after a short theatrical run this fall. When the mysterious woman in the room next door disappears, a debonair 70-year-old ex-spy living in a luxury hotel is confronted by the demons & darlings of a lurid past in which moviemaking, memories and madness collide. Filmed on the Côte d’Azur in France, a retired spy suspects his former adversaries have resurfaced when his intriguing neighbor vanishes. It’s a peculiar, twisted, heady film featuring all kinds of things going on – mysterious women clad in all black leather, diamond thieves, lots of beautiful shots of the Mediterranean, a woman brandishing a wicked sword. Starring Fabio Testi, Yannick Renier, Koen De Bouw, Maria de Medeiros, & Thi Mai. Reviews explain that it’s not about making any sense of this kooky story, it’s “an homage to and a deconstruction of genre, layering its self-reflexive and meta-textual dimensions to examine the fluidity of identity, memory, and sanity.” So have fun.
Here’s the official US trailer for Cattet & Forzani’s film Reflection in a Dead Diamond, from YouTube:
You can rewatch the first look promo trailer for Reflection in a Dead Diamond right here for more footage.
Original synopsis via Berlinale: “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?” What a question…
Reflection in a Dead Diamond, originally known as Reflet dans un diamant mort in French, is written and directed by the French artists / indie filmmaking duo Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani, both directors of the films Amer, The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears, and Let the Corpses Tan previously, plus lots of short films and other projects. Produced by Pierre Foulon. This recently premiered at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival earlier this year playing in the Main Competition there. And it already opened in theaters in France during the summer. Shudder debuts the Reflection in a Dead Diamond film streaming on Shudder starting on December 5th, 2025 – along with a run in limited US theaters on November 21st this fall. Intrigued?
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