Francis Girod
Trio infernale

Perhaps the Christmas atmosphere imbued with good feelings and good intentions is causing you a cloying sensation, the kind of "when it's too much, it's too much." And yet, reading the news from the world, one gets a bleak picture of the situation both globally and domestically. In this somewhat bleak general mood, I got the whim to track down and rewatch, on YouTube, an old film released exactly half a century ago (in 1974) created by an emerging director (and little-known to us) like Francis Girod, titled "Trio infernale." A title not at all in line with Christmas goodwill, but in my opinion very explanatory of the atrocities that many human beings, even unsuspecting ones, are capable of committing.

Inspired by the book of the same name by Solange Fasquelle (in turn a faithful transposition of a series of heinous crimes committed in Provence a few years after the end of World War I), the film recounts the criminal feats of a certain esteemed lawyer Georges Sarret, decorated for military valor and so cynical and brazen as to enrich himself, aided by two German sisters named Schmidt, his lovers, in deceitful ways. The mechanism is simple and deadly: to induce wealthy elderly men, not exactly in good health and holding a life insurance policy, to marry one of these sisters. At the wedding, shortly thereafter, the unexpected death of said men will follow, and the widow will inherit the capital inclusive of the sum paid by the insurance for the policy stipulated at the time.

The trio acts with great skill, accumulating more and more money. Obviously, as the saying goes "the devil makes the pots but not the lids," and the act of eliminating a pair of loan sharks who could have blackmailed the three criminals will be the beginning of the decline (with one of the sisters committing suicide out of remorse).

Without recounting the final facts of a long series of scams against French insurance companies (for which the illustrious lawyer Sarret will be convicted and sent to the guillotine), the film is very raw in depicting the crimes of the three ruffians, who live a life of debauchery and lust, and transcends into Grand Guignol. If there's killing and immersing of the two loan sharks' bodies in a vat filled with sulfuric acid to allow their dissolution, nothing is spared for the viewer. And the same applies when what's left of such bodies is poured, at night, into a previously prepared pit. Besides, all this can be done if one has no qualms about amassing money in a heinous way.

Needless to say, in such a daring film (perhaps today there would be more reluctance to create something similar), the performance of the main actors is crucial. Michel Piccoli is at the top of his acting skills in the role of lawyer Sarret, a diabolical man pursuing repugnant actions, while Romy Schneider, in the uninhibited role of one of the Schmidt sisters, is superb in her perversion alongside such a man, perhaps to be nicknamed Lucifer (note that their acting understanding was strengthened by a romantic relationship off the set).

A film to be recovered, also demonstrating the fact that the evil committed by homo sapiens, not only globally but also on a small scale and reported by the so-called crime news, has always been a constant plague, yesterday as today. It is recommended for viewers with a strong stomach.