Leila (Magen Mattox) has been suffering in her relationship to
playwright Alain (Guillaume Campanacci) for years now due to his
psychological and of late also physical abuse - but something prevents her
from leaving him, rather she tries to commit suicide, something that ends
in failure, but convinces him he can't no longer leave her alone ... so he
finds her a roommate, Sandy (Montanna Gillis). Sandy is much more of a
positive character than Leila, and Leila really takes to her - also
sexually ... and soon the two women decide to get rid of Alain, after all
he IS tearing Leila down, and being a French in San Francisco he isn't
likely to be missed very soon, now is he? Now between the two women,
it's not that much of a problem to murder Alain, but getting rid of him by
just scattering his body on the beach unnoticed is already a bit of a
bother since the beach isn't nearly as empty as our heroines had expected. However,
what really freaks Leila out is that Alain's body isn't found, not the
next day, not all week, never - and by all accounts it should have been, a
dead man lying (or rather reclining, as the women have draped him in a
cool pose) on the beach should be found in no time. Sandy thinks Leila
should be happy, but Leila is more strung out than ever - which is only
increased when Alain's drugdealer (Tad Brown) claims the money Alain owes
him from her, and suggests he knows what has happened ... Things go
extremely haywire from there ... If you expect Devils in
Disguise to just be another straight-forward thriller, you'll probably
be disappointed, as the movie tells its story, which might be considered
rather standard thriller fare, in a very unique way, throwing chronology
out of the window, playing with different layers of reality and
association, and relying heavily on atmosphere instead of explaining
everything away via dialogue. And while quite a bit of the film and its
approach might be heavily influenced by the best of French nouvelle vague,
the film as such still feels fresh and original as can be. Definitely
not the most straight-forward film to watch, but that was the intention
behind it, and if you're up for something unusual, this is totally worth
your while!
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