"Stress" was probably intended to match the quality (and commercial success) of the old masters of the French thrillers ,particularly Henri Georges Clouzot and George FRanju .But if the New Wavelet's "thrillers "suffered from over-seriousness and more than their fair share of tedium ,then Bertucelli's work stands condemned of mindless overkill and cheap performances.A sometimes disturbing atmosphere did not compensate for the appallingly badly written screenplay and its far-fetched unexpected end.
Bertucelli began with an exceptionally good work "Remparts d'Argile" ."On S'est TRompé d'Histoire d'Amour " was still interesting,weren't it only for Bertucelli's refusal of the love story clichés."Docteur Françoise Gailland" thrust the director into the mainstream,with mixed results.Then it was downhill.
Guy Marchand tries his best to look scary but the part was not made for him and he seems bored all along;Carole Laure is rather inexpressive .The "good " idea of the screenplay is actually more or less borrowed from Boileau-Narcejac's "Et Mon Tout Est Un Homme" Dreadful stuff.
