Review: Twisted 'Icy Breasts" a Moody and Uneven Thriller

French superstar Alain Delon plays a surprising supporting role (albeit a potent one) in Georges Lautner's bizarre, moody, and uneven thriller, "Icy Breasts" (Les Seins De Grace" in French, a.k.a. "Someone is Bleeding," the alt English title).

Delon co-produced this 1974 film, set in and around Nice, co-starring his longtime lover Mireille Darc ("Weekend"), and starring character actor Claude Brasseur as a TV/radio writer, François Rollin, who is searching for inspiration. He finds it in an enigmatic and troubled young woman, Peggy (Darc), who may or may not have murdered her husband. Rollin immediate falls for Peggy, but he is in competition for her affections with her attorney, Marc Rilson (Delon), much to the consternation of Marc's wife (Nicoletta Machiavelli). Toss in a menacing chauffeur, a creepy bodyguard, and Marc's demented brother, Denis (Fiore Altoviti), and the plot bubbles over with chilling potential.

Based on the novel "Someone Is Bleeding" by Richard Matheson, "Icy Breasts" (an unfortunate title) suffers from a lackluster leading man and an even less interesting leading woman. The hook to movies about women who drive men mad with passion is that said femmes need to be at least remotely alluring. Darc plays this role as if she's in a coma, so understanding why anyone would succumb to her charms is impossible when no charms are on display. Her performance isn't even camp, since there is no life to it whatsoever.

In addition, the "Is she or isn't she a crazy murderer?" question is pretty much answered very early on (unless you're as dense as the main character), so there isn't much excitement there either.

Still, the twisted film is nicely directed by Lautner, with one odd and terrific performance by Altoviti, who should have gone on to a formidable career (but did not).

Kino Lorber presents the film in its original 1.66:1 widescreen aspect ratio, with a 4K restoration from the original negative, so it looks good. The DTS-HD Master Audio (mono) sound is clear. Don't bother with the English-dubbed version, which is just jarring.

The audio commentary by film historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson discuss how people didn't respond to the film at the time, and what an underrated director Lautner is, among other topics.

Blu-ray Extras Include: