La Route de Corinthe (1967) - film review

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...

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...

What do you think of this film?