This visually arresting, stylish film stars Alexander Allerson as a man, who takes his mistress (Anna Karina) to his country estate for a weekend, unaware that his wife (sharp-featured, elegant Margit Cartensen) has the same plan with her lover (Ulli Lommel). The mix-up has been engineered by their crippled teenaged daughter, Angela Christ (Andrea Schober), who, along with her caregiver (Macha Meril), soon joins them. The mansion is managed by nasty, eccentric housekeeper/cook Brigitte Mira, assisted by her pretentious poet/philosopher son (Volker Spengler). In the evening, Angela Christ arranges a dinner party for the eight principals, after which they play a parlor game-as the upper middle class may be inclined to do-called "Chinese Roulette," a sort of parody of self-revelation. What this means may be subject to all sorts of liberal interpretations, but one thing seems clear: if Helmut Newton had directed a movie, it might look something like this.
Review of Chinese Roulette
