Movie Review – Reflection in a Dead Diamond

Reflection in a Dead Diamond (2025)
Written and directed by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani

The married filmmaking duo of Cattet and Forzani first caught my eye with their 2009 feature debut, Amer, a postmodern homage to the uniquely Italian horror genre of giallo. In that film, they established their signature style: hyper-sensory hallucinations—fragmented, fetishistic collages of giallo, Eurospy, and grindhouse cinema. Narrative is secondary to texture, rhythm, and the ecstatic violence of the images. There is not much dialogue in their work, but you never feel lost because they maintain tight control in the editing room.

Reflection in a Dead Diamond follows an aging, reclusive former secret agent who is drawn out of retirement after the murder of a woman he observes from afar at a seaside resort. This event triggers a hallucinatory spiral through memories of Cold War espionage and sadistic villains. As reality fractures into flashbacks and stylized violence, the investigation becomes less about solving the crime and more about confronting a life defined by toxic masculinity and the brutal mythmaking of the spy genre itself, until the boundary between memory and delusion finally collapses.

James Bond, as a cultural touchstone, feels adrift. Its sexual politics are outdated, and the franchise has also struggled to shed its post–Cold War geopolitical perspective, in my opinion. The Daniel Craig films were okay, but many followed the long-standing pattern of Bond movies attempting to emulate other successful films of their era—Live and Let Die emerging alongside the popularity of blaxploitation, or Moonraker following in the wake of Star Wars. The Craig films were certainly derivative of Mission: Impossible and Marvel movies, particularly in their long-form plotting and certain stylistic flourishes.

Reflection in a Dead Diamond chooses instead to embrace the tropes of the genre, particularly the style of the original 1960s Bond films and their many, many spin-offs. There are specialized gadgets, exotic locales, and an abundance of beautiful women with romantic ties to the protagonist. The images are saturated with pop-psychedelic color and Dutch angles. These elements are vital in immersing us fully in the genre.

There is another influence that U.S. audiences may be less familiar with: Italian spy comics, which also inspire the film and contribute their brand of eroticized violence. This is pure dopamine cinema—perfect for short attention spans without being dumbed down. A showdown between two toughs and a masked, leather-clad femme fatale unfolds through a series of blink-and-you’ll-miss-them cuts. Bladed stiletto heels slash a throat, while foosball table players are used to crack an opponent’s skull apart. This is Serpentik, a mysterious female assassin whom our secret agent tussles with—or does he?

At its core, Reflection in a Dead Diamond is a metanarrative experience. The old man begins by recalling his spy exploits, which then retract to reveal the film production and press tours for the spy movie itself. But this is not the final layer: we go back further to discover the story exists as a comic book, with certain sequences shifting from live action into panels and speech bubbles. The sound design cuts through all of this—every scratch of razor-sharp fingernails, every cheek crushed against chipped diamonds, felt viscerally in the gut. Violence is sensorially heightened to the point of surreality. We begin to question what, if anything, is real for the protagonist—and whether he has lost his grip on it entirely.

Cattet and Forzani have truly mastered the unique style they have been refining for decades. It is impressive how, with so little spoken dialogue, the story is communicated through pure image and sound. Much action cinema in recent years has become bland and visually dull. Reflection in a Dead Diamond feels like what might happen if graphic designer Saul Bass were not confined to Bond title sequences but allowed to shape an entire film. I would be interested to see Cattet and Forzani given a studio project, though I worry their vision would be softened by producers. Still, it would be exciting to see this kind of energy and bold style injected into Bond itself.