Premise: André Jurieu (Roland Toutain) has just broken Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic record. He sadly discovers that only his friend Octave (Jean Renoir) is there to greet him and not his love, Christine (Nora Gregor). Christine is, instead, home with her husband, Robert (Marcel Dalio). Robert, in the meantime, is attempting to break off his affair with Geneviève (Mila Parély). When it appears that both these affairs will come to a head, Octave suggests bringing everyone to Robert's country castle for a hunting weekend as a distraction. While they are there, Lisette (Paulette Dubost), Christine's maid, gets into trouble when her husband, the groundskeeper (Gaston Modot), suspects her of adultery with another servant, Marceau (Julien Carette).Recently, someone remarked that the difficulty of writing about baseball is avoiding making grand metaphors and tripping over clichés. To be honest, I find that statement equally applicable to writing about movies. There's a part of us, of me especially, that wants to find something in movies. To find something deeper. To find some truism that we can take with us when we leave. There is one in this movie, one line that not only explains the events of the movie but also the movie itself and manages to launch decades of filmmaking in the process. Everyone has their reasons. Simple, isn't it?
Director and co-writer Jean Renoir's early career masterpiece had me grinning like a fool at the screen. I was charmed. There wasn't a character, a line, a frame that Renoir didn't make come alive. The entire film was dazzling and dancing before me. It was impossible not to laugh at this sparkling comedy of manners. Even when things turned darker, it would have taken an iron will to turn your eyes away from the screen.
Add to this that fact that Renoir and co-writer Carl Koch have made it impossible to dislike a single character. Even when certain one became annoying, you still found something to like. Heck, even one woman's dedication to duplicity was delightful.
There was one character who spent most of his lines remarking on the rare qualities that he felt the Marquis possessed. Mostly, he thought the man had class. Despite the fact that its plot swirls around extramarital affairs, the same is true of the movie: charm and class all the way. Watching a movie as genius as this one is a bit like falling in love. A+
I could have done without the incessant prattle of a nearby couple, though. What is the matter with some people?
No comments:
Post a Comment