"la Merveilleuse Visite" was to be ,unfortunately,Carné's last movie:it stands as a cheapskate epitaph,a cardboard stone,a sad end to a career which produced some of the very best (and I mean it) works of the French cinema .Carné had planned another movie,"Mouche",based on the short novel by Guy De Maupassant:it promised a return to form,but the producers turned their back on him and Carné never got his wish.
In 1942,Satan sent two of his devils to drive the humans to despair:the screenplay was written by Jacques Prévert and the actors were Jules Berry and Arletty.(Les Visiteurs Du Soir)
In 1974,it's God's(?) turn :he sent an angel (or did the angel fall by accident?)in a village by the seaside in Britanny;there is nothing more to say about it:Gilles Kohler (debut)is bland,listless and it takes a lot of faith to believe he is a creature from Heaven;the vicar,his sacristan (played by the faithful Roland Lesaffre ,who is in all the post war works )who receive him in their home are dull uninteresting characters :the priest could have his moments of doubt and hope but as his help says "you do believe Jesus was born from a virgin ,that he rose from the dead,and you do not believe in that miracle!"To all the other villagers,the angel is no more than a village idiot (a role often played by Fernandel),who can play the violin though:but the sounds he produces are not even heavenly.Add A truck driver who gets jealous cause his girl goes for a stroll by the sea with the angel.
NB:Carné's last movie was actually a MTV documentary:"La Bible";although an atheist,he was single-minded .
In 1942,Satan sent two of his devils to drive the humans to despair:the screenplay was written by Jacques Prévert and the actors were Jules Berry and Arletty.(Les Visiteurs Du Soir)
In 1974,it's God's(?) turn :he sent an angel (or did the angel fall by accident?)in a village by the seaside in Britanny;there is nothing more to say about it:Gilles Kohler (debut)is bland,listless and it takes a lot of faith to believe he is a creature from Heaven;the vicar,his sacristan (played by the faithful Roland Lesaffre ,who is in all the post war works )who receive him in their home are dull uninteresting characters :the priest could have his moments of doubt and hope but as his help says "you do believe Jesus was born from a virgin ,that he rose from the dead,and you do not believe in that miracle!"To all the other villagers,the angel is no more than a village idiot (a role often played by Fernandel),who can play the violin though:but the sounds he produces are not even heavenly.Add A truck driver who gets jealous cause his girl goes for a stroll by the sea with the angel.
NB:Carné's last movie was actually a MTV documentary:"La Bible";although an atheist,he was single-minded .