AN INFINITY OF MIRRORS

A tobogganing tale of the German holocaust from 1952 on, glistening with extravagance, glinting with evil, shuttles between France and Germany and follows the destiny of Paule, the only daughter of a dashing actor-philanderer, and the German lieutenant colonel Veelee (i.e. Willi) she marries. It is accomplished with all the prodigal energy and obstreperous facility one might expect. Paule, whose father leaves her not only with a fantastic fortune but a sense of hubristic glory in her Jewish background, marries the handsome, limited Junker officer whose family is more aware than he is of the corruption of Germany and of all within who temporize with the new regime. While protected by her position as a ranking officer's wife, Paule is shocked and sickened by what she witnesses, and finally leaves Willi with their son after an attack by a monstrous SS Obersturnbannfuhrer, Drayst. In Paris, she is no longer immune after the German occupation; Drayst, still lusting for her, is there, organizing the razzias which will feed flesh into the gas chambers; and in order to get at Paule, young Paul-Alain is seized. Willi, who has lost an eye, an arm, a wife, and now a son, is ready to collaborate with Paule in the savage revenge... Unlikely- in spots, but certainly Condon's most spectacular melodrama since The Manchurian Candidate and nothing impedes its readability.