Judex

The corrupt banker Favraux is giving a masked ball to celebrate his daughter Jacqueline’s engagement. He receives a letter condemning him to death unless he repents – signed “Judex”. What follows is a series of kidnappings, betrayals, plots, and extraordinary coincidences, from which emerges the arch-villainess Diana Monti. A sadistic nun in a catsuit, she upstages Judex, and would be at home in any Bond film today. The elegant but ominous ritual of the masked ball; Judex, unsettling, in his eagle head; the fey beauty of Jacqueline – all collude to give the film its magical, mysterious quality, two steps away from a world of enchantment.