Spoilers would like to order a lemonade, shaken not stirred.

Nostalgia has been known to be an extremely effective sub-genre for anything attached to it. In this case, we’re going back to the 60’s era of European spy thrillers with a twist. We’re experiencing it all through one of its main characters. Now, I don’t want to rehash the often used label of “love letter” as much as it fits, because it is a modern meta-take on an old style of filmmaking. Your mission, if you accept it, is to see if this is up your alley.

Reflet Dans un Diamant Mort (2025) is written and directed by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani. A retired man, John Diman (Fabio Testi) spends his time at a hotel watching the tide and a beautiful woman who is staying on the room right next to his. Mr. Diman can’t help but remember his younger days as a spy agent… Or was he? Is he imagining things as the woman suddenly disappears? Is it possible his enemies have finally decided to track him down?

As we jump between the past and the present, the very nagging suspicion that young spy John D. (Yannick Renier) was just a film role based on a popular comic book. As the senior Mr. Diman tries to figure out if his suspicions are true, the lost woman appears dead. A mysterious older woman (Maria de Medeiros) watches him from the top of the penthouse floor. Meanwhile we see fragments of the past where John’s mission involved a beautiful female spy (Celine Camara). Unfortunately for John, it also involved his greatest nemesis in the deadly super assassin Serpentik (Thi Mai Nguyen).

Recommended with reservations. As much as it is a tribute to the spy films of old, the polarizing factor is the fragmented storytelling. You’ll either be a fan of the meta-deconstruction of the spy film or not. The story even includes one caveat foe for John that allows the film itself to be either a film of a film or an actual portrayal of an in-universe spy story. Worth a watch for spy films buffs but willing to accept the narrative style.

That will do for now.