COMA by Denys Granier-Deferre

Julien (Richard Anconina) sees the kilometres slip by on the train to Portugal. Constantly drifting between sleep and wakefulness, he loses himself in a dream world to the beat of the tracks. At the border, Sophie (Anna Kanakis), a young woman with a heavy suitcase, boards the train. She accompanies him in his compartment, and soon there is a polite conversation. Sophie is going to visit a sick uncle in Portugal. Before she disembarks, the gallant Julien offers to help her with her suitcase. Dragging himself between two carriages, he loses his balance and falls off the train. When Julien comes to, he finds himself in an unknown room, in a baroque and mysterious house. Julien’s legs are in plaster, and his serene nurse turns out to be Sophie. She introduces him to her invalid uncle Eloi and to her sister Mina. She looks very much like Sophie but relates to it as the night to the day. Julien feels like a prisoner. He begins to ask himself questions. Why doesn’t he feel any pain, why is he always drugged and why is he so haunted by a memory from his childhood? Sophie always manages to reassure him, but each time events show that she is lying to him. Who is this Sophie, and why does she take such good care of Julien?

Coma is a strange film by Denys Granier-Deferre (Que les gros salaires lèvent le doigt, Réveillon Chez Bob, Blanc de Chine). Based on a novel by Frédéric Dard, we witness the life of a man who gets caught in a diabolical plot. Julien is played by one of the best actors in France, Richard Anconina (Le Choix des Armes, Tchao Pantin, Le Petit Criminel). Anna Kanakis (Michelangelo, Money, Double Rêve) and Isabelle Candelier (Qui sont mes juges, Chimère, La fille de l’air) are the intriguing sisters Sophie and Mina.