Strums along the River
The new edition of The Forgotten is hot off the cyber-presses of The Auteurs’ Notebook. Here is a sneak preview of the item under discussion ~
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shadowplay 
February 20, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Lovely piece on MARIANNE – one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful films I have ever seen. Oh, and I’m not even 12 years old. Not officially, at any rate. Though seeing me swoon over movies like this one, you may very well wonder.
It’s ironic, though, that Duvivier made this film while under attack from the Cahiers critics! Not one of those odious little men made anything remotely as good – certainly not Godard or Truffaut or Rohmer. Alain Resnais in LAST YEAR IN MARIENBAD and Claude Chabrol in ALICE achieve something like the poetic intensity of Duvivier, but it’s not typical of their work overall.
The only films to really compare with MARIANNE are two by Jean-Gabriel Albicocco: THE GIRL WITH GOLDEN EYES and LE GRAND MEAULNES (aka THE WANDERER). Of course, he’s even more forgotten than Duvivier. Wound up running a reperetory cinema in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and died in total obscurity.
Is that where poetic genius gets you? Answers on a postcard please…
February 20, 2009 at 8:00 pm
If you can arrange a translation of Girl with Golden Eyes I’d be eager to do a Forgotten piece on it — it looks wonderful.
In a way it’s surprising that anybody’s managed to get anywhere on poetic genius in an industry as destructive as the film business, but fortunately and against the odds, we have quite a few bits of beauty to enjoy.
February 22, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Shall we aim for that one next? I never suggested it, as I was convinced you had somehow seen it with subititles.
In fact, that film and MARIANNE would make a stellar double bill. Each is the perfect blend of art movie and perfume commercial…and yes, I do mean that as a compliment.
February 22, 2009 at 9:20 pm
The Albococco is a must for a translation, but so is Golgotha and Le Golem. Could we possibly clone you?
I just watched Le Paltoquet, which had a certain glossy ad quality too. Really nice rhythms though — of music, speech, and especially mise-en-scene.