Summary
In late 1920s France, Julien Davenne devotes his life to the memory of the dead.
He writes impassioned obituaries for an obscure newspaper and has converted his house’s
Green Room into a mausoleum to his wife, who died ten years earlier shortly after their
marriage. When the room is destroyed in a fire, Davenne's obsession drives him to
renovate an abandoned chapel in the cemetery where his wife is buried. With a sympathetic
friend, Cecilia, he intends to build a memorial to his wife and all his dead friends.
Review
La Chambre verte is among the least widely known films in François Truiffaut's
impresive filmography, but is almost certainly his most personal film. It is no
coincidence that the great man plays the film’s lead character, Julien Davenne.
Truffaut, like Davenne, was a man who had experienced more than his fair share of tragedy
in his life and who was obsessed with holding onto his memories of dead friends and lovers.
"I am loyal to the dead. I live with them."
The film spent almost
a decade on the back-burner before Truffaut felt ready to make the film. Its origins
lay in the works of the 19th century novelist Henry James, whom Truffaut greatly admired.
Reference to James' works can be seen in the final film.
Truffaut deliberately
chose to use the music of Maurice Jaubert and even played the music on the set during
filming so that cast and production crew could enter into the mood of the film.
Jaubert wrote the scores for many famous French films of the 1930s but was killed in active
service during the war in 1940. His music serves this film very well, and contributes
much to its haunting atmosphere.
The film’s dark, funereal
atmosphere was probably the main reason for its failure at the box office in France.
This unexpected flop shocked Truffaut and is believed to have led to a temporary decline
in his health. This is in spite of the fact that the film was generally well received
by the critics. Today, La Chambre verte is widely regarded as a cinematographic
achievement, although perhaps lacking the impact of Truffaut’s other great films.
© James Travers 2003
See also:
The life of François Truffaut
Les 400 coups
Tirez sur le pianiste
Jules et Jim
Farenheit 451
Baisers volés
Le Dernier métro
Buy films by François Truffaut
More about the French New Wave
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