SHOCK TREATMENT (1973)
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 87 Minutes
Audio: English & French DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)
Director: Alain Jessua
Cast: Alain Delon, Annie Girardot, Robert Hirsch, Michel Duchaussoy, Anne-Marie Deschodt
At the start of the slow-burning French medical thriller Shock Treatment (1973) middle-aged fashion designer Hélène Masson (Annie Girardot, Circle of Fear) has been dumped by her boyfriend for a much younger woman, which for the first time in her life sends her into an age-related depression. To cure her of this vain anxiety she ends up at the exclusive
Devilers Institute, a luxury wellness clinic frequented by the elite and influential of high society. It's her first time visiting after hearing remarkable things about their rejuvenating treatments, but she's a bit apprehensive and feeling like an odd duck among the regular patrons. She is quite relieved
when she runs into an old friend at the clinic though, Gérôme (Robert Hirsch), a gay man who has also recently found himself among the single crowd, and who assures her that the clinic and the treatments are remarkable.
Eventually Hélène meets the attractive and quite charming Dr. Devilers (Alain Doelon, Spirits of the Dead) who runs the clinic and the pair strike up a sexual relationship, which further puts her at ease about the clinic. Soon after though she begins to notice that all the staff at the clinic are all undocumented migrant workers, some of whom disappear under mysterious circumstances without a proper explanation. This puts her back on edge, as does the death of her friend Gérôme who is found dead at the bottom of a seaside cliff, an apparent suicide after financial troubles makes it impossible for him to afford his treatments.
Her newfound closeness to Dr. Devilers allows her to further snoop into the goings-on at the secretive clinic, and what she discovers is absolutely horrific. I am not going to spoil this one, even though I did more of less see where it was all heading, but I don't want to ruin your viewing experience. The slow-burning medical thriller is quite suspenseful and has some cool sci-fi horror elements that come to light in the last act that I thought were terrific. Despite the unsavoriness of the happenings at the clinic director Alain Jessua (Frankenstein 90) keeps things low-key and non-hyperbolic, saving the more shocking elements till the final act, which gets plenty gruesome and twisted.
Annie Girardot is a fantastic lead as the well-off protaganist who uncovers the horrific elitist secret of the clinic and it's wealthy patrons. Playing against her we have Alain Delon playing the villain with celebrity doc panache, it's easy to see why Hélène lets him bed her, even after admitting that he sleeps with plenty of his patients. The flick is light on bloodletting but heavy on off kilter atmosphere and paranoiac suspense, plus we get a solid cast that pulls you into the story and makes the ending that much more potent.
This is a flick that was a bit ahead of it's time, pre-dating several movies that also play with the idea of a weird health spas that turn out to be something untoward to say the least. While watching this I was particularly thinking of the ozploitation flick Thirst (1979) which came six years later, but explores a similiar scenario, but this has a biting social commentary that other flick lacked, exploring the idea of the ultra-rich having a corrupt privilege and sense of entitlement, going so far as fuel their youth and vitality at the expense of the vulnerable and seemingly disposable lower-class.
Audio/Video: Shock Treatment (1973) arrives on region A locked Blu-ray in 1080p HD framed in 1.66:1 widescreen, with this new transfer being sourced from an attractive new 2K scan of the interpositive. The source element is in great shape, the colors look natural and accurate and the blacks are solid, plus we get some natural looking grain throughout that is well-managed, offering modest fine detail in the close-ups and in textures. Audio on the disc come by way of both a solid English-dub or the original French language in DTS-HD MA Mono with optional English subtitles. Everything sounded clean and well-balanced, as does the score from René Koering.
We get a handful of extras beginning with a 20-minute interview with Bernard Payen, curator at The Cinémathèque Française. He discusses Jessua's style of moviemaking, describing it as a cross between the French studio system and the French New Wave, and exploring the themes of his film, noting that he did not make traditional horror films. We also get a 24-minute interview with composer René Koering (The Dogs) who gets into his his film score influences, and how the score for this film is unique and contains elements of Portuguese and African music, plus we get 8-minutes of commentary from the composer on three sequences from the film where he gets into what he was evoking with the score.
We also get an archival interview with Director Alain Jessua that runs about 9-minutes, touching on his approach to screenwriting, his aversion to making traditional fright films, plus a 2-minute trailer for the film. The single-disc release comes housed in a black keepcase with a sleeve of one-sided artwork, the same artwork is featured on the disc.
- Alain Jessua – The Lone Deranger: Interview with Bernard Payen, Curator at The Cinémathèque Française (20 min)
- Koering's Scoring – Interview with Soundtrack Composer René Koering (24 min)
- Director's Disorder – Interview with Director Alain Jessua ( 9 min)
- Drumrunning – René Koering Commentary on Three Sequences ( 8 min)
- Trailer (2 min)
Shock Treatment (1973) is a slow-burning sci-fi/medical thriller that doesn't ever lag, the film is propelled by a strong cast, a disorienting sense of paranoia, and some off putting themes that keep things suspenseful and off kilter till things ramp up in the last act. Severin's release offers a great looking transfer and a solid set of extras, it's great to see this gem of a twisted thriller get a great release on Blu-ray.
More screenshots from the Severin Blu-ray:
