On paper this looks promising; a beautiful actress, Edwige Feuilliere, an actor who's just come off a starring role opposite Arletty in Les Enfants du paradis, a respected director, Jean Delannoy and one of THE four best scriptwriters in French cinema, Charles Spaak. Sometimes it all goes wrong but always with artists of this calibre in front of and behind the camera there are moments to savour and so it is here. Barrault doesn't really convince as a violinist whereas Feuilliere has only to convince us she is in love. There are promising visuals and nine times out of ten Delannoy has the camera in the right place and when that is in front of Feuilliere's face you won't hear a peep out of me. Interesting as opposed to memorable.
2 Reviews
The darker side of man...
dbdumonteil17 May 2007
Ambitious but only moderately successful.The first lines promised great things: every man has a secret garden ,the dark side of his mind,you never know who he really is,blah blah blah...
It seems that Delannoy had a film/symphony in mind.What Frank Borzage ("I'll always love you") and Abel Gance ("Un grand amour de Beethoven" ) were not far from achieving is here an aborted attempt .To be successful,the movie should have focused on the Barrault/Feuillère relationship.Barrault was ideally cast as an accursed musician ,he had everything the character needed ,but Charles Spaak's script meanders through clichés of melodrama.
The ending looks like a poor man's "children of the paradise" ,which Barrault's presence reinforces -Both movies are contemporary-.
Some good scenes but they are few and far between: -the Kremer/Noblet meeting in the castle where the old virtuoso asks the young musician to do him a favor:never come back to his mansion ,cause he is sure he is going to destroy everything he touches.
-Kremer ,in the eating-house,refusing to hear a record which is muzak to his ears.
Delannoy would do much better in the following years::"la Symphonie Pastorale" "Dieu A Besoin des Hommes" "Les Jeux sont Faits" or "Le Garçon Sauvage" are eminently commendable.
It seems that Delannoy had a film/symphony in mind.What Frank Borzage ("I'll always love you") and Abel Gance ("Un grand amour de Beethoven" ) were not far from achieving is here an aborted attempt .To be successful,the movie should have focused on the Barrault/Feuillère relationship.Barrault was ideally cast as an accursed musician ,he had everything the character needed ,but Charles Spaak's script meanders through clichés of melodrama.
The ending looks like a poor man's "children of the paradise" ,which Barrault's presence reinforces -Both movies are contemporary-.
Some good scenes but they are few and far between: -the Kremer/Noblet meeting in the castle where the old virtuoso asks the young musician to do him a favor:never come back to his mansion ,cause he is sure he is going to destroy everything he touches.
-Kremer ,in the eating-house,refusing to hear a record which is muzak to his ears.
Delannoy would do much better in the following years::"la Symphonie Pastorale" "Dieu A Besoin des Hommes" "Les Jeux sont Faits" or "Le Garçon Sauvage" are eminently commendable.
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