Summary
Gérard Favier is a famous composer who has been married to the
charming Sylvia for almost 20 years. Still deeply in love, they
walk the streets of Paris and, one day, they hear a sonata that
Gérard once wrote, played on a piano in a house.
Gérard is surprised to find that the piano player is a 20
year-old girl named Monelle. Impressed by her talent,
Gérard decides to adopt Monelle as his protégé,
but very soon his interest in her takes a less paternalistic
turn. It is through a gossip magazine that Sylvia learns
about her husband’s infidelity but she is uncertain how to
react. After all, he did write a new song for her, "Lovers are
alone in the world..."
© Willems Henri (Brussels, Belgium)
© Willems Henri (Brussels, Belgium)
Review
This is a little gem that deserves to be far better known than it is,
but then what would you expect from a script by Henri Jeanson,
direction by Henri Decoin and a cast led by Louis Jouvet? The
main story is beautifully topped and tailed by Decoin, who gives us an
opening sequence in which Jouvet, a celebrated composer and pianist, is
strolling through the woods and comes upon a wedding party at an
inn. Content to be mistaken for a vagrant, he entertains the
revellers by playing popular tunes on the piano for tips. Then
comes the story proper.
Long married and deeply in love, Jouvet and his wife are out walking when they hear someone playing the piano to a remarkable standard. It turns out to be a young girl to whom Jouvet becomes mentor and eventually lover, something his wife is unable to bear. Decoin shot this film simply, in the ’old fashioned’ way, i.e. master shot, long shot, mid shot two-shot, close shot, etc., which is all the more effective for this kind of storyline. Following the tragic outcome, Decoin takes us back to the woods that formed the Prologue and, in a shot that echoes the close of Casablanca, Jouvet and friend walk off together. Fade out. Brilliant.
© Leon Nock (London, England) 2010
Write a review for this film...
Long married and deeply in love, Jouvet and his wife are out walking when they hear someone playing the piano to a remarkable standard. It turns out to be a young girl to whom Jouvet becomes mentor and eventually lover, something his wife is unable to bear. Decoin shot this film simply, in the ’old fashioned’ way, i.e. master shot, long shot, mid shot two-shot, close shot, etc., which is all the more effective for this kind of storyline. Following the tragic outcome, Decoin takes us back to the woods that formed the Prologue and, in a shot that echoes the close of Casablanca, Jouvet and friend walk off together. Fade out. Brilliant.
© Leon Nock (London, England) 2010
Write a review for this film...
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Useful links
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- Best French films of the 2000s
- Best of the French New Wave
- Best of French film comedy
- The best 100 French films
- The most successful French films
- Great French filmmakers
Related links
- The best French romantic films
- Other French films of the 1940s
- The best French films of the 1940s
- Other French romantic films
- Biography and films of Henri Decoin
To buy this film
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Credits
- Director: Henri Decoin
- Script: Henri Jeanson
- Photo: Armand Thirard
- Music: Henri Sauguet
- Cast: Louis Jouvet (Gérard Favier), Renée Devillers (Sylvia), Dany Robin (Monelle), Fernand René (Michel Picart), Philippe Nicaud (Jules), Janine Viénot, Brigitte Auber (Christine), Maurice Lagrenée (Le directeur du journal), Emile Drain (Un critique), Lucien Carol (Le patron du bistrot), Charles Vissière (Le beau-père), Philippe Lemaire (L’amoureux), Jean Heuzé (Un critique), Jacques Provins, Pierre Ringel (Le marchand de porte-bonheur), Léo Lapara (Ludo)
- Country: France
- Language: French
- Runtime: 105 min
- Aka: Monelle
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