if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Blistering performances.

As the previous poster has noted this bears all the hallmarks of a Theatrical two-hander and the lion's share of the 80 minute running time features two strangers, one of each sex, in a hut in the middle of WW11. Actor-director Robert Hossein (the man) enjoyed something of a vogue around the time of the new wavelet without espousing the new waveleteers anti-film techniques. For four years he was married to the actress Marina Vlady (the woman) and in a similar way to Henri Decoin (married for a while to Danielle Darrieux) he featured her in his films - though hardly in the same league as Decoin-Darrieux. Here he tries for an enigmatic approach; after meeting in the hut, falling instantly in love, consummating that love on a convenient bed the duo have to decide if they are both spies, if they are on the same side, if one or both is 1) English or 2) German. The main problem they face is getting the audience to care. Vlady made exactly one hundred films none of which were terribly distinguished, her sister Odile Versois also made films and Vlady married four times most notably to the 'wild' man of Russian rock Vladimir Vysotsky. Worth a look.

The English title is much better for it perfectly describes the film.A man (the credits read "Lui" (Him) ) and a woman (the credits read "Elle" (Her)) meet up in a hut in Normandy during WW2 . All the story takes place in a room (except for the first scenes at the intelligence service office).It could be played on stage (it would probably be better on stage for the two characters talk very much.)Both are agents ;and of course handsome Robert Hossein and gorgeous Marina Vlady (who were husband and wife at the time)fall in love at first sight.But the essential is less emotional than logical.For there are four possibilities: Are they agents working for the allies or are they spies?1°)Both are spies;both lie.2°)The man is a spy ,the woman is not.3°)The woman is a spy,the man is not.4°) Both are English agents ;both tell the truth.They will spend the whole night,eating ,drinking champagne,dancing,suspecting each other,making love,trying to fool the other ,trying to know who he (she) is really is.This is a one-of-a-kind spy thriller.Robert Hossein,whose works as a director are largely ignored ,had at the beginning of the sixties his own style:both "Toi le Venin" (an absorbing thriller where one of two sisters -Marina Vlady and her sister Odile Versois- might be a murderer but which one?) and "Le Jeu De La Verité" sort of Christie-like murder mystery had already displayed a penchant for atmospheres behind closed doors.The last third of "J'Ai Tué Raspoutine" took place in a cellar in the assassin's house.