In 1964, Henri-Georges Clouzot chose Romy Schneider, 26, and Serge Reggiani, 42, to star in L’Enfer. An enigmatic and quirky project, with an unlimited budget: a movie that would be major event in the film world when it was released. But after extended rehearsals and barely three weeks of shooting, the production was suddenly interrupted. First Reggiani, then Clouzot himself, suffered health problems that were serious enough to put an end to the project. A sublime calamity that cinephiles still talk about today. This revolutionary film promised to be like something that had never been seen before. The scenes that had been shot were said to be mesmerising, incredible, astonishing and often incomprehensible. These images, forgotten for half a century, have now been rediscovered. They tell the story of a unique film – madness and jealousy filmed with subjective camera – the story of a cursed shoot and that of Clouzot, who had given free rein to his filmmaking genius. Never had Schneider been so beautiful and mesmerising. Never could an author have been so intensely close to the hero they invented.

Serge Bromberg, L’Enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot (booklet), Lobster Films, 2017