The tormented and unstable young sculptor Charles Van Horn (Anthony Perkins) summons his old family friend Paul Regis (Michel Piccoli) in Paris and tells him that he has weird nightmares followed by amnesia, and last time he had awaked with his hands full of blood. Paul and Charles travel to the countryside to the manor of Charles' stepfather, the millionaire Théo Van Horn (Orson Welles) that is married with the young Hélène Van Horn (Marlène Jobert). Paul is welcomed by the family and along the days, he learns that Charles and Hélène had a love affair and Charles wrote love letters to Hélène. One day, Théo gave a party for two hundred people and the letters were stole. Now they are blackmailed by the thief that demands a large amount to return the letters and Paul helps Hélène to pay the blackmailer. When the extortionist requests more money, Charles and Hélène forge a burglary, but the plan does not work well ending in a tragedy."La Décade Prodigieuse" a.k.a. "Ten Days' Wonder" is a slow-paced dramatic thriller by Claude Chabrol. The story based on the Ten Commandments is very well acted but unfortunately it is not difficult to foresee the twist since the number of characters is only five. This DVD has not been released in Brazil and I have just watched a DVD from Pathfinder Home Entertainment. Unfortunately there are no subtitles and in some moments it is very difficult for a non-native in English understand the pronunciation of Orson Welles. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): Not Available

I found it quite bizarre that this bizarre movie made in 1971 is rated so low and some reviews are so bad. French director Chabrol unites with french actors Michel Piccoli and Marlene Jobert and Americans Orson Welles and Anthony Perkins (Perkins frequently worked with Welles). Loosely based on a mystery novel by Ellery Queen, this film is excellent and should be taught in film history classes. It combines elements from European and American cinema and the final outcome is World Cinema with superb acting by Orson Welles. Welles plays his favorite "Shakesperian" type of character, which he portrait in his films Othello, Macbeth, Citizen Kane, Mr. Arkadin and Immortal Story (which he made few years earlier). The film has good camera work, excellent props (statues that reminded me of the one's in Citizen Kane), costumes by Karl Lagerfeld and a strange electronic score at the beginning of the film supplemented with classical music as the film progresses. I won't spoil anything by going into plot details but to sum things up; this film kind of feels like "Citizen Kane part 2 made in France". Welles' character, Theo, lives in a mansion, his wife is having an affair, he's lonely, he's always buying expensive art and so on. Welles the filmmaker dominates this film, it's quite clear that director Chabrol learned a awful lot from him, the editing, the music, camera-work and the dramatic performances all remind me of his work. Highly recommended and it's a shame how hard it is to find a copy of this film, cause Orson Welles never acted in a good motion picture after Ten Days Wonder.

You would think that a movie with this pedigree - Anthony Perkins, Orson Welles, Michel Piccoli in the cast, Claude Chabrol as director, filmed in English on French locations - would be, if not an art-house success, then at least a cult item. And yet "Ten Days Wonder" has been mostly forgotten today. It's not a great movie, but it's worth seeing. Chabrol gets quite a few chances to demonstrate his virtuosity with the camera, as he lets it glide and follow the characters, sometimes switching from present to past. Perkins and Welles are perfectly cast, and Marlène Jobert is sexy, but Piccoli seems slightly uncomfortable with the English language. However, the biggest problem of "Ten Days Wonder" is the sluggish pacing, which makes the 105-minute running time feel even longer (for example, was the scene with Welles' old mother really necessary?). Given the limited number of characters, some of the twists (the blackmailer....) can be guessed beforehand, but others can still shock you. The final 20 minutes mark this as a very dark and bleak movie. **1/2 out of 4.

This so called "thriller" did none of the above, mainly it only made me insensitive to the terrible acting portrayed in the film. About one hour is wasted by the director in presenting incomprehensible scenes from a spoiled and wealthy family. Hopkins is terrible here, playing an annoying rich junkie who doesn't know if he has killed someone or not. The others are squandered away in unmoving, flat dialogue and the end does not surprise anyone at all with its proclamation. Slow and tepid also....