L’Enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot (2009)

A documentary about L'Enfer, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s unfinished film, it alternates scenes from the film with experimental sequences of artistic effects taken from the rushes, as well as interviews with people who took part in the shoot. Since the soundtracks have been lost, two actors recreate some of the dialogue between Odette and Marcel. We see Romy Schneider water-skiing on the lake and Serge Reggiani running along the road until he is exhausted. Marcel, whom he plays, is pathologically jealous and has hallucinations of his wife with a lover. Each train passing over the viaduct seems to trigger a crisis. The shooting schedule is limited, but Henri-Georges Clouzot, both producer and director, keeps reshooting scenes. His relations with the actors become strained. Then Serge Reggiani, ill, suddenly leaves the shoot. It is clearly no longer possible to meet the deadlines, but the director continues filming secondary scenes while waiting for a replacement… It all ends when Henri-Georges Clouzot suffers a heart attack.