In the future, people play a game of hunter and victim: the participants take turns, in the hope of killing ten victims and claiming a prize. Caroline (Ursula Andress) is selected to kill Marcello (Marcello Mastroianni) and plans to present his murder in the latest advertisement for a brand of tea.
Based on Robert Sheckley's short story The Seventh Victim, this elegant science fiction satire is a little too cool for its own good. The leads are well-cast: Mastroianni has his accustomed world-weary charm and Andress is glacially beautiful as always, but all the glossy cynicism makes The Tenth Victim a difficult film to warm to, even though its tongue is amusingly in its cheek.
Life has become a throwaway accessory, death is merely part of a game; if you get too old you are "disposed" of (Marcello keeps his parents hidden away, not because he loves them, but because he doesn't like being told what to do!). Almost everyone keeps their emotions in check and artifice is more important than real feelings. In fact, Marcello spends more time worrying about how to rid himself of his wife and mistress than he does about getting killed.
It is against this background that Marcello and Caroline perform their bizarre courtship - it's like the mating ritual of two deadly spiders. Despite the abundance of murderers, nobody in the film gets their hands dirty, all the killers use guns, or even exploding boots and hungry crocodiles. The bloodless action is often interrupted by gunfights.
There are a number of striking scenes in this stylish film, such as the opening murder in a club where the victim is shot by a bra, the sunset congregation where Marcello uses a pill to make himself cry, and the filming of the advert where Caroline has finally lured Marcello, complete with dancers and people dressed as teacups. In this decadent society, death is entertainment, relationships are insincere and comics are literature (I don't have a problem with that bit, actually).
Overall, The Tenth Victim would be cool as a cucumber if it weren't for the frenetic last ten minutes where the film becomes a zany farce. I suppose it makes a nice change from the iciness of the rest of the story, but seems to belong in another film. Music by Pierro Piccioni. Watch for: the big eye on a wall, the trainer who seems to have had most of his body parts replaced, and the two saxophone players.
