STONEKILLER

On the eve of the First World War, so the story goes, a young prehistoric researcher and the girl with whom he was seeking a trysting place at Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne found a cave full of fabulous paintings to rival those of Lascaux. But Henri- Georges Fillioux was reported killed in the war, and the girl, declared his wife only four years after his death, has grown to obscure middle age with only her memories, duly commemorated each year on the anniversary of their discovery, as consolation. Now, in the depths of 1942, Ernestine Fillioux has been savagely murdered and mutilated with a stone axe—just as a Franco-German team of filmmakers and prehistoric consultants is putting the finishing touches on Moment of Discovery, a movie dramatizing her dazzling find. The questions for SñretÇ Chief Inspector Jean- Louis St-Cyr and Gestapo storm-trooper Hermann Kohler, investigating under the watchful eye of the Fuehrer's top ministers: Why was Ernestine Fillioux carrying poisonous mushrooms in her picnic basket? Had her daughter's father returned from the dead? Were the cave paintings a hoax? And why is the story of the Discovery Cave so important to Hitler's war effort that the film's getting rushed into release despite the obvious instability—and the possibly homicidal conflicts—among the cast and crew? The most subdued of St-Cyr's and Kohler's three outings (Carousel, 1993, etc.) keeps the suspense burning slowly but with mounting power in their most successful collaboration yet.