With a poll taking place on ICM for the best films of 1969,I took a look at what the major auteurs of the French New Wave (FNW) had been up to that year. Finding The Bride Wore Black (also reviewed) to be one of my favourite films him,I traveled to Mississippi to witness François Truffaut's second Cornell Woolrich adaptation.
View on the film:
For his second Woolrich adaptation, writer/ director François Truffaut keeps the FNW styling pressed on Agnès Guillemot's editing, swiped with multi-layered dissolves,spilt screens and brash black screen cuts. Reuniting with cinematographer Denys Clerval after Stolen Kisses, Truffaut continues to open up on his Hitchcock inspiration via graceful tracking shots capturing the boiling heat on the Reunion island, back-screen projected car scenes creating a lovers on the run thriller atmosphere, and a return to the Switzerland safe house from Truffaut's first Noir Shoot The Piano Player (also reviewed),snowing in the romance between Mahé and Vergano on a doomed poetic note.
Whilst his other Noir's of the era had a firm foundation for their playing around with time, (the extended flashbacks of Piano,the kill list of Bride,and the 4th wall breaking of A Gorgeous Girl Like Me-also reviewed) the time-frame Truffaut springs here feels incredibly disjointed,as the passage of time between Mahé and Vergano (played with an alluring Femme Fatale edge by Catherine Deneuve) romance stutters between feeling like it has taken place over years-from her appearance and Mahé (a restless Noir loner Jean-Paul Belmondo) being in a mental hospital, to a chance encounter with a detective stating that it has only been a matter of weeks.
Basking in the heat of the island, Truffaut does well at establishing doubt over Mahé and Vergano marriage being too perfect. Leaving behind Mahé almost penniless, Truffaut aims for Hitchcock-style twists that miss due to the revelation that Vergano is not who she claims,(who has sent piles of letters to Mahé)making Mahé's passionate love for a total stranger feel rather random,as Mahé searches for the Mississippi mermaid.
View on the film:
For his second Woolrich adaptation, writer/ director François Truffaut keeps the FNW styling pressed on Agnès Guillemot's editing, swiped with multi-layered dissolves,spilt screens and brash black screen cuts. Reuniting with cinematographer Denys Clerval after Stolen Kisses, Truffaut continues to open up on his Hitchcock inspiration via graceful tracking shots capturing the boiling heat on the Reunion island, back-screen projected car scenes creating a lovers on the run thriller atmosphere, and a return to the Switzerland safe house from Truffaut's first Noir Shoot The Piano Player (also reviewed),snowing in the romance between Mahé and Vergano on a doomed poetic note.
Whilst his other Noir's of the era had a firm foundation for their playing around with time, (the extended flashbacks of Piano,the kill list of Bride,and the 4th wall breaking of A Gorgeous Girl Like Me-also reviewed) the time-frame Truffaut springs here feels incredibly disjointed,as the passage of time between Mahé and Vergano (played with an alluring Femme Fatale edge by Catherine Deneuve) romance stutters between feeling like it has taken place over years-from her appearance and Mahé (a restless Noir loner Jean-Paul Belmondo) being in a mental hospital, to a chance encounter with a detective stating that it has only been a matter of weeks.
Basking in the heat of the island, Truffaut does well at establishing doubt over Mahé and Vergano marriage being too perfect. Leaving behind Mahé almost penniless, Truffaut aims for Hitchcock-style twists that miss due to the revelation that Vergano is not who she claims,(who has sent piles of letters to Mahé)making Mahé's passionate love for a total stranger feel rather random,as Mahé searches for the Mississippi mermaid.