Maladie d'amour (1987)
Directed by Jacques Deray

Film Review

Maladie d'amour is a surprising departure for Jacques Deray, a director who is best known for his psychological thrillers and gangster films, among which are such enduring classics as - La Piscine (1969), Borsalino (1970) and Flic Story (1975).  Made in the twilight of his high-profile career, this slushy romantic drama is certainly not the kind of film we would associate with Deray and despite a strong principal cast it fails to make much of an impact.  The film's main failing is a sloppy script (supplied by Danièle Thompson, who is far more adept at lighter fare) which serves up little more than a lazy potpourri of low grade soap that doesn't really add up to much.

Actors of the calibre of Jean-Hugues Anglade and Michel Piccoli are totally wasted on this kind of lumbering, superficial tearjerker, although if we had been spared the cloying presence of the fairly talentless Nastassja Kinski (whose performance is rendered more unbearable than unusual by a lamentably bad script) the film might just have had some appeal.  Coming hot on the heels of Deray's previous film - the formulaic and fairly stale Belmondo thriller Le Solitaire (1987) - Maladie d'amour does feel like a long overdue breath of fresh air, but the director's venture into pastures new probably came too late in his career and can hardly be called a success.  Overlong, rambling and almost entirely predictable, the film is one of Jacques Deray's few unequivocal misfires.

Film Synopsis

On a train to Bordeaux, Clément, a promising young intern at a cancer clinic, encounters for the first time Juliette, an attractive young woman who works as a hairdresser.  By chance, Clément's employer, the respected cancer specialist Raoul Bergeron, also meets Juliette and immediately falls in love with her.  The prospect of an easy life with a well-heeled, albeit somewhat older partner is hard to resist and Juliette is soon pursuing an intense love affair with Raoul.  Juliette may be comfortably situated but she is far from fulfilled and when an occasion to sleep with the much more desirable Clément presents itself she puts up absolutely no resistance.  When Raoul hears of this betrayal he threatens to wreck Clément's career.  The younger doctor responds by moving away from the area with Juliette and starting a new practice in the country.  Things go smoothly for a while but Juliette soon comes to the conclusion that this precarious new life is not for her.  On the spur of the moment, she decides to leave Clément and move back in with Raoul.  Some years later, Clément is married to another woman and has made a success of his career at a hospital in Paris.  One day, he meets up with Raoul, who informs him that Juliette has fallen ill.  It seems that there is nothing he can do for her...