Set amid the European community in an unspecified North African country, a colony on the verge of nationalism just before the war. And colonized is what happens to a French diplomat, Julien Rochelle, when he meets the mysterious beauty Clothilde de Watteville. Schmid 's favorite axiom, that love is projection, never had such a thorough airing. Is Clothilde really the wife of a French official now holed up in Siberia? Or is she Hecate, goddess of black magic and devourer of the Arab boys she meets far from the European quarter? Only our projections know for sure; for the rest, she is a "woman looking out into the night." Drawn from a novel by Paul Morand, who based the main character on his wife Helene, Schmid's film achieves an atmosphere of magic in which psychological credibility is not so much absent as irrelevant-a film that distances itself from the drama it invokes, perhaps as the elusive Clothilde turns her back on the madness she provokes.
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Daniel Schmid,the director of "Hécate, Maîtresse De la Nuit",died 3 days ago. This movie lacks more sexuality;its psychology is entirely conventional and ready-made.Still,"Hecate" is not without certain merits (as the directing is also average,still not without ideas).Several things make this flick worth watching :(1)the sexually stunning Lauren Hutton;(2)Morand's world.Some of the lines uttered by the characters are fine,as Morand was,of course,better than most of the usual scriptwriters.There is,also,a certain detachment,that answers Morand's succinct style.(Much of this movie's undeniable charm is of a literary nature.)The many flaws of this movie are obvious,no need to discuss them.The script deserved a better treatment.None the less,Hécate, Maîtresse De la Nuit is an interesting exercise,and,somehow,even a waste of beauty.I didn't like Giraudeau,who does an extremely bad acting here and is an obvious miscast.He strives to give the movie a fake intensity,all inadequate.The right direction here would be towards some comic-strips quality of the acting;but Giraudeau goes from overacting to somnambulism;a very annoying actor,indeed.I think he is the big responsible for spoiling the movie;Giraudeau was a tremendous miscast.Ridiculous preciosity,but also a certain instinct for epic liquidity;no skill,still a good detachment that makes the movie work.I know it is not a (really) good movie;but it works.It manages to be interesting despite not being good.This is pretentious and average cinema.But it gets your sympathy.A certain slowness and absent-mindedness of the somnambulist Giraudeau (towards the end of this movie) remind,sometimes,of "India Song"."Hecate" is an interesting average movie.
