When French superstar Alain Delon turned to producing his own vehicles, he opted to tackle more serious subjects (usually of some social relevance) if, shrewdly, still within the framework of a commercial property. I recently watched him in TWO MEN IN TOWN (1973), where he played a Jean Valjean-like ex-convict hounded by a stern police inspector.
This one stays even more within the conventions of the thriller genre (it was adapted from a Richard Matheson novel) while trying to portray the genuine case history of a female homicidal maniac; unfortunately, lead actress Mireille Darc (Delon's then-current partner, with whom she was paired a number of times) isn't up to the requirements of the role, dispelling any form of comparison with Catherine Deneuve's far more successful turn in REPULSION (1965). Co-star Claude Brasseur, then, is usually a fine actor but his character here comes across as too much of a buffoon so that he lacks the strength to adequately deploy the essential animosity towards Delon's typically suave and apparently all-powerful lawyer! Nicoletta Macchiavelli, however, scores in the smallish role of Delon's long-suffering wife; he's in love with Darc, whom he had defended while on trial for her husband's murder.
Philippe Sarde contributes the melancholy and giallo-tinged score in fact, the film features a swift aggression in a darkened parking-lot and a couple of murders (both occurring off-screen, though we're shown their graphic aftermath). Incidentally, while the title itself would suggest an erotic thriller (of a type which would soon become fashionable in Hollywood BASIC INSTINCT [1992], BODY OF EVIDENCE [1993], COLOR OF NIGHT [1994], etc.), nudity is only present in one scene towards the end! The finale, then, is interesting if somewhat too abrupt (not to say, melodramatic).
