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Overview
La Symphonie fantastique is a French period drama film first released in 1942,
directed by Christian-Jaque.
The film stars Renée Saint-Cyr, Lise Delamare, Jean-Louis Barrault, Jules Berry and Bernard Blier.
It has also been released under the title: The Fantastic Symphony.
Our overall rating for this film is: good.
Synopsis
The life and times of one of the greatest of French composers. When he is not immersed
in his compositions, Hector Berlioz lives a full life with his numerous friends and women.
Nowhere is his passion for life shown more forcefully than in his Symphonie fantastique
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Film Review
Christian-Jaque directed this grand but somewhat anaemic historical bio-pic, made for
the Germany-run company Continental at the time of the Occupation. Although
the sequence where Berlioz realises his Symphonie fantastique is filmed imaginatively,
the film generally lacks the creative impulse and atmosphere of Christian-Jaque’s other
works of this period. Jean-Louis Barrault turns in a respectable performance
as the flamboyant Berlioz, although the film’s shameless lack of historical authenticity
is goading to anyone interested in an accurate portrayal of the composer’s life.
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Credits
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