Alice or the Last Escapade 1977

Alice Sylvia Kristel leaves her husband, whom she has grown to despise, and drives into the pristine countryside, where the light feels still and the air seems to listen. At a secluded mansion, a windshield cracks in a way that feels almost choreographed, as if the car itself conspired to slow her down. An old man and his quiet butler greet her as if she were expected, and the old man, Charles Vanel, who plays Henri Vergennes, insists she stay the night and even offers to have the car repaired by morning.

That night, a thunderous boom shakes the house from the darkness. By morning the car has a brand-new windshield, yet Alice discovers that she is alone in the deserted mansion, with only the empty breakfast set as company. She eats, then climbs back into the car, hoping to leave, but the countryside seems to rearrange itself: the gate to the country road is nowhere to be found, and a stubborn tree trunk blocks the path back. The atmosphere grows thick with unease, and every ordinary sound seems to echo the possibility that she may not really be leaving at all.

With reluctance she returns to the mansion, hauling her suitcase along a road that keeps looping in her memory. A André Dussollier appears as a young man and speaks with a matter-of-fact calm, telling her to accept that there is no way out. Is she trapped in limbo, a liminal space where time repeats itself? The old man again appears and offers cryptic explanations, hinting at forces beyond her control, as if the house itself is sketching a riddle she cannot solve.

Another dawn arrives, birdsong filling the air, and breakfast is laid out as if nothing had happened. She must once more get into the car, this time to search for the road to the highway, and for a moment it seems she might be on the cusp of a real exit. Yet as if the house itself tests her resolve, she encounters more odd figures along the way, and the windshield cracks again, sealing her in a cycle she cannot escape.