Traitement de choc (1973) - film review

A stressed-out retail manager Hélène Masson decides to submit herself to a course of therapy at a centre run by the secretive Dr Devilers.  At first, Hélène is encouraged by Devilers’ apparent success with his other patients.  But then she becomes concerned when one of her fellow patients commits suicide.  Later, one of the Portuguese serving boys disappears after asking her for help.  Hélène soon realises that something is seriously wrong...

Here is a film that certainly lives up to its name.  Traitement de choc starts out as a pretty conventional psychological thriller but ends in quite a shocking manner, revealing itself to be a modern vampire flick - and a creepy one at that.  The film was directed by auteur maverick Alain Jessua, who is perhaps best known for his intense and very disturbing drama La Vie à l’envers (1964), which was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.  Jessua’s filmmaking career soon fizzled out after some impressive early works but his films remain interesting for both their diversity and their slightly off-the-wall treatment of contemporary issues.   Traitement de choc can easily be dismissed as a cynical attempt to cash in on the vampire craze of the early 1970s, but it also serves as a pretty incisive attack on western consumerism, condemning the way that the rich exploit the poor to enhance their own standard of living, like vampires preying on the innocent. 

The film offers a formidable pairing in Alain Delon and Annie Girardot, two of France’s most high profile actors at the time.  Delon was at the height of his popularity and had already become an international screen icon, best known for his tough gangster roles in such films as Le Samouraï (1967) and Borsalino (1970).   Giradot was not such a big star but had proven to be an immensely versatile performer, able to take on straight dramatic roles and comedic parts with equal aplomb.  The two actors first appeared together in Luchino Visconti’s Rocco and His Brothers (1960), when both were virtual unknowns, and would work together one more time, on José Giovanni’s Le Gitan (1975).

Both Delon and Girardot are extremely well-matched to the parts they play in this film.  Delon has a sinister Mephistophelean quality, exuding evil menace beneath his surface charm as the aptly named Dr Devilers, whilst Girardot gives a good impression of someone being slowly driven out of her mind as the dark truth behind her anti-ageing therapy becomes apparent.  Neither performance can be described as subtle but Girardot’s histrionics and Delon’s comic book villainy are undoubtedly fitting for this chilling excursion into the macabre.

When it was first released, Traitement de choc performed noticeably less well at the box office than other Alain Delon films of this era.  Critics were quick to condemn the beach scene where most of the cast  (Delon and Girardot included) remove all their clothes and frolic about in the nude (mercifully in long shot).  This now notorious scene was later used to promote the film outside France and gave it its alternative English language title Doctor in the Nude.  Well, all’s fair in love and marketing...

© James Travers 2000-2010

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