Dir: Claude Chabrol
1967
****
After a brilliant opening scene, it's not always clear what Claude Chabrol's La route de Corinthe (AKA Who's Got the Black Box?) is supposed to be. For the most part it's an unconvincing farcical spoof of the spy genre but compared to the director's previous work and the films he made later it lacks consistency. The film has an opening anonymous quotation that reads: `I don't ask you to believe it but I suggest that you dream about it.' which leads me to the conclusion that Claude Chabrol's heart wasn't really in it and he relied purely on the beauty of his lead actress and hoped that all the film's unanswered questions would be subjective enough to lead to various interpretations and lady serendipity would take over from there. It's hard not to think that way considering the excellent Les Biches came out only 12 months later. It's a complete mess but it's so odd and ridiculous that I rather liked it.
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