Directors like Pierre Chenal are the backbone of French cinema. Content to trail in the wake of the Duviviers, Carnes, Pagnols, Renoirs, Clairs etc they turn out consistent bread-and-butter movies happy with the occasional one (L'Alibi) or two-base hit (Clochmerle, L'Assassin connait la musique)and just once in a lifetime (La Foire aux chimeres) hitting one out of the park. L'homme de nulle part is a definite two-base hit: the second in total and first Sound version of Pirandello's play it is our old friend the wish-fulfilment drama in which the protagonist, Mathias (Pierre Blanchar), has just about had it up to here with wife Ginette Leclerc and mother-in-law Catherine Fontenay when fate deals him one off the top; a stiff in the river is almost a ringer for Mathias so he shows up at his own funeral and once burned to a crisp lights out for Rome and a new life that includes a new love. Chenal's touch is masterly, Robert Le Vigan is a bonus as the jealous fiancé and it's especially nice to see Charlotte Barbiere-Krauss - so effective in the silent version of Poil de Carrotte - in her next-to-last screen appearance. Well worth anyone's time.
3 Reviews
He's a real nowhere man...
dbdumonteil14 April 2008
don't know where he's going to Isn't he a bit like me and you?
At a time when remakes show up at such a speed that pretty soon you won't be able to tell if a movie is an original ,this is good news to write that "L'Homme de Nulle Part" is a good ,nay excellent remake .A first silent version was filmed by Marcel L herbier in 1924 as "Feu Mathias Pascal" based on the same Pirandello play.Today's audience will find the talkie much more palatable,in spite of a watered down ending.
The Pirandellesque subject was so exciting it probably inspired writers such as Patricia Highsmith when she wrote "the talented mister Ripley" or William Irish's "no man of her own" .The movie is in turn a comedy, a melodrama,a ghost story ,a detective story,you name it..With an exceptionally good cast including Pierre Blanchard (Mathias alias Adrien) ,Le Vigan (the count;he only appears halfway through so be patient),Margo Lion ("Caporal" who enjoys séances in the dark),Ginette Leclerc (the bad wife) ,Isa Miranda (Louise the gorgeous romantic young girl).If they had kept Michel Simon (silent version) for the part of Sinoel ,it would have been the most perfect cast you could have dreamed of.Sinoel is the only character which underwent some changes.In the silent version ,Michel Simon portrayed the good pal ,who really wanted to help his unfortunate friend .Chenal made him a coward,a selfish oaf.
Most of the plot follows the 1924 version: the wedding,the bad news (you are broke and you did not tell me so before !) ,Leclerc lying on her bed and refusing to give herself to her husband,the Casino episode,the boarding-house where the hero find loves ,the come back..
But the best scene remains the funeral.Haven't you ever thought of attending your own funeral?Hypocrisy was rarely given a better depiction with the two women (the wife and the mother-in-law )weeping all along the way to the graveyard.
Pierre Chenal had always said it was his favorite movie.I do not agree with him,though,for I have always thought that "La Foire Aux Chimères" was his absolute masterpiece .Both deal with humiliated men and a certain misogyny ("L'Homme de Nulle Part" features two loyal women though)
At a time when remakes show up at such a speed that pretty soon you won't be able to tell if a movie is an original ,this is good news to write that "L'Homme de Nulle Part" is a good ,nay excellent remake .A first silent version was filmed by Marcel L herbier in 1924 as "Feu Mathias Pascal" based on the same Pirandello play.Today's audience will find the talkie much more palatable,in spite of a watered down ending.
The Pirandellesque subject was so exciting it probably inspired writers such as Patricia Highsmith when she wrote "the talented mister Ripley" or William Irish's "no man of her own" .The movie is in turn a comedy, a melodrama,a ghost story ,a detective story,you name it..With an exceptionally good cast including Pierre Blanchard (Mathias alias Adrien) ,Le Vigan (the count;he only appears halfway through so be patient),Margo Lion ("Caporal" who enjoys séances in the dark),Ginette Leclerc (the bad wife) ,Isa Miranda (Louise the gorgeous romantic young girl).If they had kept Michel Simon (silent version) for the part of Sinoel ,it would have been the most perfect cast you could have dreamed of.Sinoel is the only character which underwent some changes.In the silent version ,Michel Simon portrayed the good pal ,who really wanted to help his unfortunate friend .Chenal made him a coward,a selfish oaf.
Most of the plot follows the 1924 version: the wedding,the bad news (you are broke and you did not tell me so before !) ,Leclerc lying on her bed and refusing to give herself to her husband,the Casino episode,the boarding-house where the hero find loves ,the come back..
But the best scene remains the funeral.Haven't you ever thought of attending your own funeral?Hypocrisy was rarely given a better depiction with the two women (the wife and the mother-in-law )weeping all along the way to the graveyard.
Pierre Chenal had always said it was his favorite movie.I do not agree with him,though,for I have always thought that "La Foire Aux Chimères" was his absolute masterpiece .Both deal with humiliated men and a certain misogyny ("L'Homme de Nulle Part" features two loyal women though)
"The butterflies you loved so much,will choose this tomb, to close their wings."
morrison-dylan-fan16 February 2021
Warning: Spoilers
After starting with his debut Paris-Cinema (1929-also reviewed) I decided to finish my run of Pierre Chenal viewings,by meeting Mathias Pascal.
View on the film:
Teaming up again after Crime and Punishment (1935-also reviewed) Pierre Blanchar gives a delightful performance as Pascal, with the cold shock he is hit with from witnessing his own funeral, being twisted by Blanchar into a devilish cad charm played from Pascal underhanded deals to build himself a new identity.
Working again with cinematographer Joseph-Louis Mundwiller, co-writer/(with Christian Stengel/Armand Salacrou & Roger Vitrac) directing auteur Pierre Chenal builds upon the theme of a person cutting themselves off from the outside world which runs across his credits, with a stylish gaze into Pascal's abyss, via moving from behind a gravestone towards a tracking shot following Pascal's own procession.
While continuing to dig into the Noir loner becoming increasingly detached from society that runs across his Chenal's credits, here Chenal and the other writers adapt Luigi Pirandello's play with a more humorous tone, from what Pascal discovers his partner has been up to since he "died",to cunningly attempting to blend in and rub shoulders with the rich,by transforming himself from Mathias Pascal into Adrien Meis.
View on the film:
Teaming up again after Crime and Punishment (1935-also reviewed) Pierre Blanchar gives a delightful performance as Pascal, with the cold shock he is hit with from witnessing his own funeral, being twisted by Blanchar into a devilish cad charm played from Pascal underhanded deals to build himself a new identity.
Working again with cinematographer Joseph-Louis Mundwiller, co-writer/(with Christian Stengel/Armand Salacrou & Roger Vitrac) directing auteur Pierre Chenal builds upon the theme of a person cutting themselves off from the outside world which runs across his credits, with a stylish gaze into Pascal's abyss, via moving from behind a gravestone towards a tracking shot following Pascal's own procession.
While continuing to dig into the Noir loner becoming increasingly detached from society that runs across his Chenal's credits, here Chenal and the other writers adapt Luigi Pirandello's play with a more humorous tone, from what Pascal discovers his partner has been up to since he "died",to cunningly attempting to blend in and rub shoulders with the rich,by transforming himself from Mathias Pascal into Adrien Meis.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
