Reflection in a Dead Diamond is a French film under the Shudder banner that played at Fantastic Fest 2025 in Austin, TX. Inspired by 1960s Eurospy films, the story follows an aging superspy with a fading memory as he recounts his past life.
Directors Bruno Forzani and Hélène Cattet sat down with The Direct for an interview, where they discussed their inspirations and filmmaking process. Forzani revealed they were "inspired by spy movies and superhero movies" but wanted to “approach them in a different way.” He went on to list Japanese director Satoshi Kon as a key inspiration for Reflection in a Dead Diamond.
More quotes can be read below, alongside the full video interview. Reflection in a Dead Diamond currently does not have a release date in the United States but is expected to be released on Shudder at some point in the future. Another Shudder film to look into coming out of Fantastic Fest 2025 is Crazy Old Lady, which lives up to its title.
The Filmmaking & Inspirations Behind Reflection in a Dead Diamond
"We Have Been Inspired By Spy Movies and Superhero Movies..."
- The Direct: "Can you talk about just kind of your mission statement in working to find the narrative, and in also dipping your toes into that kind of the horror, just kind of disturbing element, and balancing those different genres?"
Bruno Forzani: In fact, we have been inspired by spy movies and superhero movies, and they are always told the same way, like, very straightforward, and we wanted to approach them in a different way, because, you know, it's a universal cinema. All people in the world know that kind of cinema, and we think we can try to do something different. And so we approached it like, you know, the Japanese director, Satoshi Kon...
He had a way to write his script, like in a stereoscopic way. So you tell your story with several layers thematics. And each time you watch the movie, you can see it. You can see a different movie, you know. And before writing 'Reflection in a Dead Diamond,' we have watched a TV show called the 'Westworld,' and it was that kind of writing, and so we wanted to tell our story through that way.
- The Direct: "There is so much metaphorical, thematic depth going on, but there is also a narrative. So what is that balance of like, okay, this is our narrative, but you know, some visuals and scenes definitely lean more towards the metaphorical, thematic kind of stuff. So what was the balance there for you guys?"
Bruno Forzani: When we have written the script, we have written it with colors, each thematic, each narrative, a specific color. And when we have finished the script, we have watched it, you know, with distance, and we have seen that all the colors were well balanced.
And so we had this first idea was that spy who thinks about his past, his memories, and you don't know what the nature of these memories are very real or fake. And after we put a lot of thematics that we wanted to approach, because it's not just about cinematic references, but about exhibitions we have seen the world in which we living. And so Voila, it was the process, I think.
Hélène Cattet added that when they are "writing the script, [they] are thinking about the editing already:"
Hélène Cattet: Yeah, we are think when we are writing the script, we are thinking about the editing already, and we want, in fact, behind each shot there is a meaning, because we want to tell the story very with intuition and with sensorial things we don't want to be explain, but we want the audience to feel everything, that they have a place on the movie.
The entire interview from Fantastic Fest 2025 can be seen below:
At Fantastic Fest 2025, The Direct also spoke with The Black Phone 2 director Scott Derrickson about the sequel's massive evolution of the franchise.
