Traitement de choc

Psychological thriller from producer-director Val Guest could perhaps use more thrills and less psychology. Racecar driver fights against getting psychiatric help after a road accident--which killed the other driver--has left him badly shaken; his spouse begs him to reconsider, particularly after she becomes the target of her husband's subconscious rage. Adaptation of Ronald Scott Thorn's novel "The Full Treatment" (the movie's alternate title), by Thorn and Guest, has some tart dialogue and solid performances, and looks great as photographed by Gilbert Taylor, but the midsection of the film is redundant. Guest turns the plot-screws with careful deliberation, but is too slow in getting this web untangled. **1/2 from ****

Still recovering from serious head injuries sustained in a car crash, motor racing driver Alan Colby and his wife Denise go on holiday to the South of France. There, Alan is suddenly and unexpectedly struck with a compulsion to strangle his wife. Hearing about this, Dr. David Prade, a local psychiatrist, offers to help, but his offer is rejected by Alan and he and Denise return to London. The psychiatrist follows them there, convinced that sooner or later his services will be needed and that he should be close at hand. At first, all seems well with Alan, but then one morning he wakes from a long sleep to find that Denise has disappeared. Worse, all the evidence points to his having murdered her.

Beautifully filmed in black-and-white MegaScope by the great Gil Taylor and masterfully directed by Guest, who was always at his best working on suspense films, "The Full Treatment" is a minor classic.

'Stop Me Before I Kill' is AKA 'The Full Treatment'. Both titles seem to fit this film quite well.

A race car driver is in an accident and spends time in a coma, once he is awake he has the strange urge to kill his wife. His wife seeks help from a psychiatrist to help her husband overcome his urge and to find out why this is suddenly happening.

The ending of this film seem appropriate - very befitting. I will not give it away for those who have not seen the film and would like to.

This is not a bad mystery-drama - it's pretty good. No movie is "perfect" - they all have a few flaws and this one is no exception. The flaws in this film are minor.

All movies are hard to fathom - you have to suspend your beliefs to watch any movie. With this film you will have to do the same thing as with any film.

All in all a pretty good film. I enjoyed watching it.

7/10

"Stop Me Before I Kill" or "The Full Treatment" is a 1960 film with a screenplay by Val Guest, who also directed.

The story concerns a famous race car driver, Alan Colby (Ronald Lewis), who was involved in a terrible car crash with his wife Denise (Diane Cilento). He is unable to race, and he and Denise go to the south of France on vacation.

Alan goes through swift mood shifts - the slightest word can set off his temper. And he keeps being tempted to strangle his wife - in fact, he nearly does a couple of times.

This, of course, is where one has to suspend belief because why the heck would she stay with someone who has attempted to strangle her and whose temper flares at the drop of a hat? I understand women in abusive situations, but I don't know, my husband trying to kill me takes it to a new level.

A psychiatrist they meet, Dr. David Prade (Claude Dauphin) offers to help. Alan is hesitant, but once back in London, where Prade has also returned, he agrees. At the end of the treatment, he feels that he is cured. He is able to get back on the racing track and has no temptation to hurt Denise.

Right before he is to leave for a race, Alan wakes up and finds that Denise is not there. In fact, all the evidence points to the fact that she has been murdered.

This was a very good story that suffered from an unbalanced script. The film went on too long, and the psychiatric scenes were endless. Diane Cilento is a beautiful and heartfelt Denise, Claude Dauphin is likable, and Ronald Lewis for me lacked subtlety in a difficult role. A good-looking man, in the beginning of the film, he reminded me of David Hasselhoff; fortunately, the resemblance faded somewhat.

Sadly Ronald Lewis committed suicide in 1982, bankrupt and his career in the doldrums.

In other hands and a bigger budget, this could have been an excellent film. However it's worth seeing for the story.

This is a surprisingly good film and effective thriller but someone should have advised writer/director Val Guest that it really was a little too long. Very simple to put right too, because it is clear there is just a little too much of the 'going crazy' scenes in the first half and maybe a little bit too drawn out and twisty an ending. Otherwise its great, I wasn't particularly one over by Ronald Lewis if effectively menacing at times, but Claude Dauphin is great and Diane Cilento marvellous in one of her finest roles. I enjoyed the premise and particularly the psychiatric scenes, bit surprised by the appearance of the CO2 canister, but overall very involving with plenty of changes in pace and scenery. Fifteen/twenty minutes snip and this would be far more successful. Shame.