Le Diable au Corps (1947)
Posted: November 14th, 2008, 11:19 am
Le Diable au Corps (1947) Claude Autant-Lara
Gérard Philipe & Micheline Presle
1917, François (Gérard Philipe), a 17 year old schoolboy, meets Marthe (Micheline Presle) a few years his senior. They fall in love, but, Marthe's mother (Denise Grey) insists that she gets engaged to a soldier. Some months later, François meets Marthe again. She is now married and her husband is on the frontline. They start to have an affair to the outrage of all the people around them....
This French classic is extremely elusive on any screen because of rights problem. But yesterday, I was able to see it for the first time at the Cinémathèque.
Raymond Radiguet's novel was published in 1923 and created a certain amount of furore at the time: an adulterous woman having an affair with a young man of 17 while her husband fought at the front. This was considered a scandal! In fact, Radiguet was using a real story. In 1947, the story was still considered immoral. The film is so sensitively directed it becomes an incredibly moving melodrama. Gérard Philipe was already a renowned theatre actor at the time. He was 25, but he manages to capture perfectly the feelings and attitudes of an adolescent. His François is just living the moment. Obsessed by his love for Marthe, he can nevertheless be selfish and overwhelmed by his responsabilities when she becomes pregnant by him. Philipe was a big films star in French cinema, but unlike many other pretty faces, he was a real actor and never indulged in any pretentious posing. He manages to give such a presence to his François!!! Certainly, it was one of his best preformances. Micheline Presle is equally superb as Marthe. A young woman in the grip of an authoritarian mother and pushed towards a marriage without love, she finally decides to live her own life even if it means losing everything.
I don't always like Autant-Lara's film, but this one is certainly his finest. the atmosphere of a small suburban town is prefectly recreated. The cinematography by Michel Kelber was superb. I also liked the music score which was more prominent than on many French films of the time. René Cloërec creates some strong rhapsodic moments like Max Steiner.
This is such a shame this film is not available on DVD or VHS! Though I think you can buy second-hand VHS in the US but alas it's an ENGLISH-DUBBED version and if you lose the two actors' voice, it's really not worth bothering....
Gérard Philipe & Micheline Presle
1917, François (Gérard Philipe), a 17 year old schoolboy, meets Marthe (Micheline Presle) a few years his senior. They fall in love, but, Marthe's mother (Denise Grey) insists that she gets engaged to a soldier. Some months later, François meets Marthe again. She is now married and her husband is on the frontline. They start to have an affair to the outrage of all the people around them....
This French classic is extremely elusive on any screen because of rights problem. But yesterday, I was able to see it for the first time at the Cinémathèque.
Raymond Radiguet's novel was published in 1923 and created a certain amount of furore at the time: an adulterous woman having an affair with a young man of 17 while her husband fought at the front. This was considered a scandal! In fact, Radiguet was using a real story. In 1947, the story was still considered immoral. The film is so sensitively directed it becomes an incredibly moving melodrama. Gérard Philipe was already a renowned theatre actor at the time. He was 25, but he manages to capture perfectly the feelings and attitudes of an adolescent. His François is just living the moment. Obsessed by his love for Marthe, he can nevertheless be selfish and overwhelmed by his responsabilities when she becomes pregnant by him. Philipe was a big films star in French cinema, but unlike many other pretty faces, he was a real actor and never indulged in any pretentious posing. He manages to give such a presence to his François!!! Certainly, it was one of his best preformances. Micheline Presle is equally superb as Marthe. A young woman in the grip of an authoritarian mother and pushed towards a marriage without love, she finally decides to live her own life even if it means losing everything.
I don't always like Autant-Lara's film, but this one is certainly his finest. the atmosphere of a small suburban town is prefectly recreated. The cinematography by Michel Kelber was superb. I also liked the music score which was more prominent than on many French films of the time. René Cloërec creates some strong rhapsodic moments like Max Steiner.
This is such a shame this film is not available on DVD or VHS! Though I think you can buy second-hand VHS in the US but alas it's an ENGLISH-DUBBED version and if you lose the two actors' voice, it's really not worth bothering....