(1966; La curée, French) Everything says '60s - artworks, music, dancing, décor, fashions, a red Mustang convertible, and psychedelic-like effects from mirrors and water reflections - in this sinister melodrama, directed and produced by Roger Vadim, co-adapted with Jean Cau from Émile Zola's novel.

Rich and pampered Renee (Jane Fonda, in the French and speaking nude) is the wife of Parisian businessman Alexandre Saccord (Michel Piccoli), more than twice her age with a handsome 22-year-old son, Maxime (Peter McEnery), from an earlier marriage (whose mother died when he was less then two), very nearly her age.

As a sort of game (all in fun), Alexandre sets his two German shepherds on his fleet-footed son; Renee (a keen shot) fires her rifle at objects surrounding Maxime in his bedroom, her retort to his leaving her a suicide note from Armand, her lover.

Dressed in a green Chinese costume, Maxime, calling himself Genghis Khan, while his father's away enters Renee's bedroom, addressing his stepmother as his slave, before chasing and capturing her, after she performs a dance of veils nearly naked. She tells Maxime that she and his father have not enjoyed conjugal relations since shortly after their wedding; the marriage is all for show.

When Alexandre departs on a business trip, Maxime requests permission to take Renee with him to Oloron-St.Marie for a visit with his Chinese friend and instructor Mr Chou and to watch a rugby match. The deception, Maxime confesses to Renee, is "utterly immoral." Falling in love with Maxime, Renee becomes afraid of going back to Alexandre's home where carrying on their affair will be dicey.

Nevertheless, before Alexandre returns from his trip, Renee gets Maxime to sleep with her in his bed. Back home Alexandre discovers evidence (an orange necklace in the wrong place) of his wife and son's dalliance during his absence.

To end their romance, his revenge is calculated and systematic. When Renee (after Maxime has agreed to go away with her if she were no longer married) asks Alexandre for a divorce, he offers a gentlemanly exchange of alimony for her relinquishing to him her fortune (already fully invested in his business). He then secures a promise, a financial favor, from his son of an engagement to Anne Sernet (Tina Marquand), a family friend whose banker father Alexandre says he needs to bail him out.

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Copyright © 2009 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
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