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La Route de Corinthe
1967 Comedy / Drama / Thriller
Review
More a divertissement than a bon cru, La Route de Corinthe is one of
Claude Chabrol’s less successful attempts at a parody of the spy
thriller. An attractive cast and an even more attractive location
offer some consolation for the uneven comedy and implausible, drawn out
storyline, which appears to have been lifted wholesale from a sub-standard Tintin adventure. Chabrol
himself described this as one of his worst films and attributed this to
the many re-writes the script underwent in an attempt to match the
narrative to the location. It may not be Chabrol’s best work but it is a film that is hard to dislike. Much of the fun stems unintentionally from Jean Seberg’s awkward performance – the actress appears to be unsure whether she is in a comedy or a straight thriller. Her co-star Maurice Ronet looks even more bemused and appears constantly to be looking for the door marked Exit. The only person who is at home in this oddball fiasco is Michel Bouquet, whose strangely feline interpretation of a spymaster combines a silky smooth campness with the sinister edge of a psychotic killer. Add to that some odd (very odd) comic flourishes that appeared to have been furnished by the Monty Python team and what you have is an experience quite unlike anything you will find in any other Claude Chabrol film. By accident or design, La Route de Corinthe ends up looking less like a parody thriller and more like a parody of a parody thriller – what you might call a second order spoof, if that makes any sense... © filmsdefrance.com 2008 Write a review for this film...User Comments
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Director:
Claude Chabrol
Starring: Jean Seberg, Maurice Ronet, Christian Marquand, Michel Bouquet, Saro Urzì Synopsis
When an illusionist is caught attempting to smuggle a mysterious black
box into Greece, the CIA uncover a daring scheme to
neutralise military radar equipment in the area. Two agents,
Robert Ford and Dex Marston, are assigned to discover who is behind the
operation, but Ford is killed not long after having received a tip
off. Ford’s American wife Shanny is implicated in the murder and
she is ordered to leave the country as soon as possible by his boss,
Sharps. Believing that her husband was onto something, Shanny
decides to stay and continue his work, not realising the ruthlessness
of her opponents – and her supposed allies...
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