Amours célèbres (1961) - film review

Segment one: The Duke of Lauzun is in love with Mademoiselle de Monaco but when he learns that Louis XIV has his eye on his lover, he realises that he must use his wits to avoid the king’s displeasure... Segment two:  Jenny de Lacour is a middle-aged woman who is madly in love with the young but unfaithful René de la Roche, so she has to find something that will allow her to keep him for herself, even something horrible... Segment three: Albert, Prince of Austria, causes a royal scandal when he marries Agnès Bernauer, the daughter of a barber, but his father has a plan to separate them... Segment four: At the comédie française a noble man has two mistresses – Miss Raucourt and Miss Duchesnois – but when the situation gets out of hand he realises that he must make his choice...
© Willems Henri (Brussels, Belgium)

In the 1940s, film director Michel Boisrond undertook his apprenticeship with such luminaries as Jean Cocteau, Jean Delannoy and René Clair.  In the 50s, he went on to specialize in light comedies, beginning in 1958 with Cette sacrée gamine, followed by Une parisienne, Faibles femmes, Le Chemin des ecoliers and Voulez-vous danser avec moi?  Boisrond was a popular film director and had only one goal: to entertain the public.  His one and only ambitious project came in 1961 when he filmed Les Amours célèbres.  This colourful Franco-Italian production premiered at the cinemas Rex/Normandie and Moulin Rouge on 3rd November 1961.

Les Amours célèbres is a pure 1960s fantasy made up of sketches with an incredible cast, based on cartoons published in the 50s and 60s in France Soir, a popular French newspaper.  The dialogue was written by Marcel Achard, Françoise Giroud, Jacques Prévert and Michel Audiard, and the music was composed by Maurice Jarre.  Film director Gérard Oury lent his voice to link the four vignettes which make up a loose anthology of love stories that are supposed to have some historical basis.  Two million spectators were evidently seduced by this uneven film.

The first segment, Lauzun, is an amusing piece of vaudeville revolving around Louis XIV and a rival for his love, and features Dany Robin, Philippe Noiret and Jean-Paul Belmondo, with witty dialogue supplied by Marcel Achard.   The segment Jenny de la cour is a well-drawn drama sensitively scripted by Françoise Giroud.   Simone Signoret gives a moving performance as an older society woman who is ready to do anything to keep her unfaithful young lover (Pierre Vaneck).

The segment Agnès Bernauer is a medieval drama which brings Brigitte Bardot and Alain Delon together for the first time; they are perfectly cast as a tragic Bavarian and a nobleman of the Middle Ages.  Pierre Brasseur and Suzanne Flon put in some fine supporting contributions and the costume designs are impressive, but this does not detract from the obvious weaknesses in the story.

The last segment, Les Comediennes, closes the film with panache and is an astonishing character-based comedy about amorous rivalry set in the Directoire period (late 18th century France).  This offers some juicy parts for Edwige Feuillère and Annie Girardot, who relish the dialogue supplied to them by Michel Audiard.  Les Amours célèbres was certainly influenced by Sacha Guitry’s Si Versailles m'était conté.  One can believe that, ten years after he played a part in this film, producer Gilbert Bokanowski was so mesmerized by the script of Les Amours célèbres that he promised to do it justice with a dream cast.  The film has yet to make it out onto DVD.

© Willems Henri (Brussels, Belgium) 2012

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