The Infernal Trio

About director Francis Girod

Francis Girod was born on 9 February 1944 in Semblançay, France. He grew up in Brussels and studied journalism. He was active as a university lecturer, journalist, screenwriter, film director and producer. He received many awards, such as the Ordre national du Mérite, the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and the Legion d’honneur. He died of a heart attack in Bordeaux on 19 November 2006.

One of his most frequent film partners was Romy Schneider, especially in the common cooperations with director Claude Sautet. Films like “Max and the Junkmen“, “Mado” as well as “The Things of Life” are classics today. Michel Piccoli also played the male lead in Romy Schneider‘s last film “The Passerby“. Their first film together was “La Voleuse” in 1966. After this film they were rumoured to be having an affair. Michel Piccoli‘s first love, however, was the theatre. In between his many film shoots, he was always on stage. In 2006 he was nominated for the European Film Award for his role in “Belle Toujours“. In 2007 he was appointed to the jury of the Cannes Film Festival. In 2007, he also became involved with Amnesty International and the political left in France. Michel Piccoli had an incredible charisma and presence as an actor. He just had to be present to fascinate his audience. One sometimes has the impression that when he just sits, stands, is simply there, he is at his best. No, he still has to smoke. Michel Piccoli was the best film smoker in cinema history. No one else could smoke as elegantly as him.

Michel Piccoli was married three times. In 1954 he married the actress Éléonore Hirt, and in 1966, after an affair, he married the chanson singer Juliette Gréco.  From 1978 until his death, he was married to the screenwriter Ludivine Clerc. Three children resulted from these unions.The daughter Anne-Cordélia Piccoli was born of his marriage with Éléonore Hirt, daughter Missa Piccoli and son Inord Piccoli he adopted together with Ludivine Clerc.  Michel Piccoli died on 12 May 2020 in Saint-Philbert-sur-Risle in Normandy as a result of a stroke. He was 94 years old. He acted on stage and in front of the camera for 70 years. He was considered one of the most important character actors in France. His death marked the end of a cinematic era.

In favour of her first film role in “When the White Lilacs Bloom Again“, she renounced her school attendance. Romy Schneider got this role at the suggestion of her mother Magda Schneider, who took the leading role in the film. In addition to Romy Schneider, Götz George also made his film debut in this film. After a few more trivial films, she played a role in the remake of the 1924 Murnau classic “The Last Man” alongside Hans Albers, which also attracted attention from the critics.

Her international breakthrough came with the “Sissi” trilogy that followed. Soon everyone in the film world knew who Romy Schneider was. Her stepfather Herbert Blatzheim, Magda Schneider‘s second husband, took over her management from 1955. He urged her to make the second Sissi film, a role Romy Schneider actually no longer wanted to play.

Romy Schneider was looking for artistically demanding roles. Nevertheless, she agreed, and so “Sissi, the Young Empress” was made in 1956. In 1957 she succeeded for the first time in slipping out of the role of the lovely, well-behaved German model girl from the Heimatfilm romance. In the film “The Girl and the Legend” she played the daughter of a cotton spinner from the lower class. It was the first role Romy Schneider had chosen for herself.

When she learned that her stepfather Herbert Blatzheim had turned down several film offers, including the remakes “The Three from the Filling Station“, ” The Congress Dances” as well as a film offer from the famous Spanish-Mexican film director Luis Buñuel, Romy Schneider became furious. Moreover, an offer from Hollywood failed because of the conditions set by Blatzheim. Romy Schneider now took her acting future into her own hands. Her next film, “Mädchen in Uniform“, with many great actresses like Lilli Palmer, Therese Giehse, Sabine Sinjen and Christine Kaufmann brought her the longed for recognition as a character actress. With the film “Christine” came the complete turnaround in her life.

After the end of the shooting she left Germany together with her film partner Alain Delon and went to Paris. There she shot three more movies in 1959, “Mademoiselle Ange“, “Die schöne Lügnerin” and “Magnificent Sinner“. In the next years Romy Schneider acted mainly in Paris. One of her theatre directors was Luchino Visconti, from whom she learned a lot. In 1962, also under Visconti‘s direction, she took on another film role in “Boccaccio 70“. Now followed several roles in blockbusters such as “The Trial“, “The Victors“, “The Cardinal“.

In the 60s and 70s Romy Schneider was at the height of her career. In 1963 she made the comedy “Good Neighbor Sam” in Hollywood alongside Jack Lemmon. Privately, however, 1963 was a bad year. Her relationship with Alain Delon fell apart. When she returned from the USA, he had already moved out of the flat they shared. She then attempted suicide. Romy Schneider then took time off. It was not until a year later that she shot the film “L’Enfer” with the old master Henry-Georges Clouzot. But bad luck stayed with her, the film was never finished. First her film partner Serge Reggiani fell seriously ill, then director Clouzot suffered a heart attack. In 1965 followed one of her most successful films, “What’s New, Pussycat?“, based on a script by Woody Allen. During a visit to Germany she met the actor and director Harry Meyen, they became a couple. During the filming of the movie “Triple Cross” in 1966, Romy Schneider und Harry Meyen married. Their son David was born in December of the same year.

In the following two years Romy Schneider devoted herself exclusively to her duties as a wife and mother. It was not until 1968 that Romy Schneider began filming again. In 1969 she acted again in the film “The Swimming Pool” at the side of her ex-lover Alain Delon. The film became one of her greatest successes. A series of films followed in the 70s, including such well-known and successful ones as “Love at the Top“, “The Infernal Trio“, “The Old Gun” and “That Most Important Thing: Love“. In 1975, Romy Schneider divorced Harry Meyen. At this time Romy Schneider was already in a relationship with Daniel Biasini, her private secretary, whom she married the same year. After the birth of her daughter Sarah, she made one of her most successful films ever in 1978 with the film “A Simple Story“. From then on, however, her life only went downhill. Her ex-husband Harry Meyen hanged himself in 1979. Romy Schneider lost many of her fans’ sympathies with the film “Death Watch“, the story of a sick, doomed woman who sold the rights to her death to a television company for broadcast. This film won some awards but failed with the audience. During the shooting of three other films there were repeated problems because of Romy Schneider‘s excessive alcohol consumption. She appeared drunk on the set several times or did not appear at all.

On 5 July 1981, her son David was killed in an accident. This event threw her completely off course. Her second marriage with Daniel Biasini was at an end and she divorced him. Romy Schneider also had to undergo a serious kidney operation. Her complete downfall was prevented by her new lover Laurent Petin. He gave her some stability again. Director Jacques Rouffio persuaded her to make another film, “The Passerby“. It was to be her last film. On the night of 29 May 1982, she died as a result of excessive tablet consumption. The death was not a suicide, but a consequence of her tablet and alcohol addiction. Romy Schneider was buried in the cemetery of the small village of Boissy-sans-Avoir, her last place of residence. Alain Delon had organised her funeral.

After that she played a demanding leading role in the film “The Infernal Trio“. She got this role by chance. Actually, Uschi Glas was supposed to play the role of the nymphomaniac Catherine. Shortly before filming began, however, she turned it down. Mascha Gonska was in France at the time and available. So she got this role alongside Romy Schneider and Michel Piccoli. From 1975 to 1979 she worked mainly for television. So she took part in several episodes of the crime series “Derrick“, “Der Alte” and “Lobster“. In 1979 she married a South African. She gave up acting and moved with him to his home country.

Material processing 

Usually, these steps are done in the presence of the cinematographer and the director, which of course was no longer possible in this case. The experience in the technical field of film restoration goes back over 40 years and so in this case Walter Potganski and Cristos Pateludis were now themselves responsible for what is called the “film look”.

Teaser [2022] (German) ᴴᴰ

Trailer [2022] (German) ᴴᴰ

Comments about the movie

“Certainly interesting and brave in its day, today a rather tedious endeavor in parts, following a trio of money-grubbing ragheads and getting tangled up in slapstick. Watching Michel Piccoli and Romy Schneider at work, however, still makes for good entertainment.” (moviebreak.com)

“The production is film-historically interesting and worth seeing, it documents Romy Schneider’s efforts to say goodbye to the hated Sissi image with radical films and drastic roles – which she succeeded in doing with lasting effect.” (Filmreporter.de)

“Stylishly staged erotic horror” (kino-zeit.de / Marie Anderson)

“Michel Piccoli, Romy Schneider and Mascha Gonska as a trio from hell who go murdering through France and dissolve the corpses of their victims in sulfuric acid. This lurid satire, with arguably Ennio Morricone’s funniest musical composition, was the scandal film of 1974.” (vivasvanpictures.wordpress.com)

“The film is a drastic delight, akin to the big grub. Michel Piccoli, Romy Schneider and Mascha Gonska, who took the role originally planned for Uschi Glas, visibly had fun with this farce.” (verfuehrungzumfilm.wixsite.com)

“It is primarily the personalities of the actors that make Trio Infernal a success. The material itself tends toward the guignol, but even the most horrific scenes gain a certain detachment from the style Piccoli and Schneider give them.” (rogerebert.com)

“This in parts starkly naturalistic horror piece is far from parody or satire: an icily staged game of blood and disgust, violence and multiple perversions that only begins to be a serious reflection of modern life and social mechanisms.” (Dictionary of International Film)

“Through incisive character sketches, directorial debutant Francis Girod (“The Banker’s Wife”) manages a furious tightrope walk between macabre realism and bitterly wicked irony with his magnificently appointed horror piece. Alongside the irresistible Michel Piccoli, a disinhibited and unleashed Romy Schneider shines in the role of the unscrupulous, life-hungry luxury woman, who here finally clears up her “Sissi” image, shocked “Sissi” fans and was celebrated by the French press as the “charming monster”.” (prisma-online)

On 27 May 2022, UCM.ONE and moviemax will release “The Infernal Trio“, the bizarre story of a murderous tercet, brilliantly cast with Michel Piccoli, Romy Schneider and Mascha Gonska by French director Francis Girod and produced by Wolfdieter von Stein, Raymond Danon and Jacques Dorfmann, both as a limited media book and on Blu-Ray and DVD in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

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