|
|
|
Après l'amour
1948 Drama / Romance
| |
Credits
-
Director: Maurice Tourneur
-
Script: Jean Bernard-Luc, Henri Duvernois, Pierre Wolff
-
Photo: Armand Thirard
-
Music: Marc Lanjean
-
Cast: Pierre Blanchar (François Mesaule),
Simone Renant (Nicole Mesaule),
Gisèle Pascal (Germaine),
Fernand Fabre (Fournier),
Gabrielle Fontan (Catou),
Germaine Ledoyen (La soeur de Germaine),
Léon Arvel (Le médecin),
Nicole Chollet (La bonne),
Paul Denneville (Le vieux journaliste),
Jean-Jacques Duverger (Henri),
Marcel Melrac (Le propriètaire)
-
Country: France
-
Language: French
-
Runtime: 95 min; B&W
|
|
|
|
| |
Summary
At a reception in honour of her husband winning the Noble Prize for literature, Nicole
Mézaule meets a former lover who has some news for her. She is invited to
visit a house outside Paris where she makes a shocking discovery. For the past eight
years her husband, François, has been leading a double life – spending his afternoons
with another woman who has borne him a son. François explains that
all this began when Nicole left him for another man, eight years before. In the
short time that elapsed before Nicole returned to him, having been thrown over by her
lover, he had met and fallen in love with another woman, a young student named Germaine…
Review
The great French film actor Pierre Blanchar gives one of his most memorable performances
in this inspired and rather poignant adaptation of a stage play by Henri Duvernois and
Pierre Wolff. Après l’amour had
previously been adapted for cinema – first in 1924 by Maurice Champreux and then
in 1931 by Léonce Perret. It is a good example of the kind of romantic
melodrama that was popular until the early 1950s – even if, like a Victorian novel, the
ending has perhaps one plot twist too many.
This was the penultimate film to be made by Maurice Tourneur, a director who made
a significant contribution to “quality cinema” in the 1930s and 1940s, including many
classic works, although nowadays he is largely – and criminally – overlooked. Tourneur’s
films have a distinctive look and feel which is informed by German expressionism and French
poetic realism – note his use of light and shade to add depth and character to a situation
and to heighten the emotional impact, in a way that is subtle and never contrived.
Like many of Tourneur’s films, Après l’amour
is beautifully shot, making the most of the artistic potential afforded by black
and white cinematography. This film so closely resembles classic film noir
in its mood and style (and the fact that most of the story is told in flashback, not
unlike a crime film) that it can almost be classified as film noir itself. Another
characteristic of this director is an aversion to sentimentality and excessively emotional
performances. Here, the understated acting works well – Blanchar is particularly
effective – and somehow the lack of “played” emotion makes the film’s unashamedly weepy
denouement all the more touching and poetic.
© James Travers 2006
|
|
Buy this film:
|
|
|
|
