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 sends her into an age-related depression. To cure her anxiety and mental ills 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 nervous and feeling out like an odd duck among the regular patrons who frequent it. She is relieved when she runs into an old friend, a gay man named Gérôme (Robert Hirsch) who has also recently found himself single, and who assures her that the clinic and the treatments are remarkable.
Eventually Hélène meets the attractive Dr. Devilers (Alain Doelon, Spirits of the Dead) 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 undocumented migrant workers, some of whom mysteriously disappear 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 closeness to Devilers allows her to further snoop into the goings-on at the secretive clinic, and what she finds is absolutely horrific. I am not going to spoil this one, even though I did more of less see where it was all heading. The slow-burning medical thriller has some tasty sci-fi 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, keeping the more shocking elements close to the vest right till the final leg of the film, which is 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 he sleeps with plenty of his patients. The flick is light on bloodletting but heavy on off kilter atmosphere, paranoiac suspense and a solid cast that pulls you into the story. There's also lots of full frontal in the film from both the men and women, especially when the clinic's patrons decide to frolic nude in the surf.
This is a flick that was ahead of it's time, pre-dating several movies that also feature the weird rejuvenating treatments at health spas that turn out to be something untoward to say the least. I was particularly thinking of the ozploitation flick Thirst (1979) which came six years later while watching this one, but this has a biting social commentary that other flick lacked, exploring the idea of the ultra-rich not having privilege beyond that of the working man, going so far as to fuel their youth with the involuntary participation of the lower-class.
Audio/Video: Shock Treatment (1973) arrives on region A locked Blu-ray in 1080p HD framed in 1.66:1 widescreen, this new transfer being sourced from a gorgeous new 2K scan of the interpositive. The image looks fantastic with the source elements being in great shape, the colors look natural and accurate and the blacks are solid, plus we get some natural looking grain that is well-managed and offers some modest fine detail in the close-ups and in textures. Audio on the disc come by way of both English-dub or the original French 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 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-burner of a sci-fi/medical thriller that doesn't ever lag, the film is propelled by it's string cast and off putting themes, keeping things suspensefully off kilter till things finally go nuts at the end. Severin's Blu-ray is top-notch with a great looking transfer and some solid extras.
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More screenshots from the Severin Blu-ray:
