L'Enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot (Henri-George Clouzot's Inferno) poster & wallpaper
Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Catherine Allégret, Romy Schneider, Serge Reggiani, Jacques Gamblin, Bérénice Bejo

In the 1950s and '60s, Henri-Georges Clouzot was one of France's most acclaimed and successful filmmakers, a director who enjoyed massive international success with Le Salaire de la Peur (aka The Wage... read more read more...s of Fear) and Les Diaboliques, and his gift for generating tension and suspense onscreen earned him the nickname "the French Hitchcock." In 1963, Clouzot began work on a project called "L'Enfer" (aka "The Inferno"), a tale of jealousy that leads to madness, and the filmmaker was promised all the time and resources he needed for the picture. However, while the director was meticulously prepared when shooting began, after only three weeks the production was halted and never resumed; Clouzot would complete only two more films before his death in 1977. Filmmakers Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea try to answer the question of what happened to a project so full of promise in L'Enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot (aka Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno), a documentary which looks into the shadowy history of this lost film. Including interviews with members of the cast and crew (among them production assistant Costa-Gavras, who went on to a distinguished career of his own) and excerpts from the surviving footage (seen by the public for the first time here), the film tells the tale of how a great director ran afoul of his own demons while making a movie about a troubled man. Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno received its world premiere at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

82% liked it

465 ratings

Critics

100% liked it

28 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 34 min.

Directed by: Ruxandra Medrea, Serge Bromberg

Release Date: July 16, 2010

Invite friends to see

Stats: 61 reviews

report incorrect info

Photos

None yet... Got one?

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (61)

  • gator681
    July 27, 2010
    gator681
    This is an intriguing documentary about "Inferno," a film that Henri-Georges Clouzot started directing but was not able to complete in 1964, starring Romy Schneider and Serge Reggiani in a tale of jealousy and madness at a resort hotel. Reality is shot in black and white while t... read morehe hallucinations are shot in color, combined to form a hypnotic mix. Sadly, all that survives of this film are 185 film canisters comprising 13 hours of footage. What has not is a soundtrack and occasionally Berenice Bejo and Jacques Gamblin read some of the dialogue on a soundstage. This is supplemented by interviews with surviving crew members including Costa-Gavras who was an assistant on the project but I would have liked to have heard from Jean-Louis Trintignant who plays a cameo role in the drama.

    On such an experimental project with American support and an international star, the documentary makes the case that Clouzot bit off more than he could chew.(The first sign that something may have been wrong was the 300 page script.) While the scale may have been larger than he was used to, Clouzot is also the same person who directed Simone Signoret in "Diabolique" and Yves Montand in "The Wages of Fear." Actually, the failure may have been one of nerve, as all the lengthy preparation and tests could have been procrastination(take it from somebody who knows). And I am wondering how much of the movie was meant to be autobiographical on a psychological level, as he had suffered previously from depression and this was his first film in four years.

    While watching the clips in this documentary, I was struck by the notion, as I usually have while watching a Brian De Palma movie, that I have seen this movie before. And I had. Thirty years after Clouzot could not bring his movie to fruition, Claude Chabrol adapted his script with Emmanuelle Beart and Francois Cluzet starring which the documentary fails to mention, missing a valuable opportunity to compare and contrast. In any case, I recall not liking Chabrol's version, as his workmanlike approach was not quite right for Clouzot's heady vision.
  • KLFilmmaker
    January 29, 2012
    KLFilmmaker
    Intriguing doc about the legendary H.G Clouzot's unfinished film 'L'Enfer'. It has rare footage of dailies, cam/makeup tests and interviews with cast/crew.

View All L'Enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot (Henri-George Clouzot's Inferno) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Ty Burr
September 16, 2010
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

The results are like nothing you've seen before: Clouzot seemed to be reinventing the medium itself. Full Review

Andrew O'Hehir
July 23, 2010
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com

A fascinating exploration of artistic self-destruction and hubris... Full Review

A.O. Scott
July 16, 2010
A.O. Scott, New York Times

It is, in effect, a making-of documentary about a movie that was never made -- a movie that was supposed to revolutionize the art form and that survives, in the limbo between intention and realization... Full Review

J. Hoberman
July 13, 2010
J. Hoberman, Village Voice

For all the irrationality that fueled Clouzot's project, it's reasonable to assume that the finished Inferno would never have been any better or more evocative than this arrangement of its shards. Full Review

Stephen Cole
February 26, 2010
Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail

The resulting reconstruction is a triumphant realization of Clouzot's vision. Full Review

Sean Axmaker
May 26, 2011
Sean Axmaker, Parallax View

... doesn't attempt to reconstruct, only reveal the play with imagery, the experiments in expression, the visual ideas at play and the obsessive drive to keep exploring... Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson
March 25, 2011
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

The new documentary unveils lots of amazing-looking footage for the first time. Full Review

Mike Scott
February 11, 2011
Mike Scott, Times-Picayune

A fascinating peek behind the scenes of Clouzot's colossal failure ... (and) a compelling portrait of what happens when an artist's ego is allowed to run amok. Full Review

John Hartl
December 16, 2010
John Hartl, Seattle Times

The remains of an aborted movie can become a fascinating pastiche. Full Review

David Noh
July 29, 2010
David Noh, Film Journal International

Especially recommended for diehard film lovers, this cinematic archaeological dig will interest anyone fascinated by one of filmdom's great might-have-beens. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Cast

More Like This

This list looks lonely.
Add a suggestion!

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

L'Enfer d'Henri-G... : Watch Free on TV

L'Enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot (Henri-George Clouzot's Inferno) Trivia

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for L'Enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot (Henri-George Clouzot's Inferno). Want to create one?

Video Clips

Upload a Video |

All L'Enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot (Henri-George Clouzot's Inferno) Videos

Meet Other Fans

Add L'Enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot (Henri-George Clouzot's Inferno) to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?