Summary
Paris, 1880. After seeing military action in Africa, Georges
Duroy finds himself virtually penniless, barely existing on the money
he earns from his low-paid job. By chance, he meets an old school
friend, Charles Forestier, who has become a successful
journalist. Forestier offers Duroy the opportunity to write
articles for his paper, which his friend gladly accepts. With the help
of Forestier’s wife Madeleine, who is used to writing under her
husband’s name, Duroy has soon embarked on a promising career in
journalism. As he does so, he begins an affair with Clotilde de
Marelle, a young widow who loves him devotedly and christens him
Bel-Ami. By now Duroy realises the power he has over women and
how he may use this to his advantage. When Forestier dies, he
wastes no time marrying his widow, and then seduces the wife of his
employer, Monsieur Walter. Duroy’s ambition drives him to even
greater acts of cruelty. Having benefited from a legacy left to
his wife, Duroy divorces her and begins to court Suzanne, Walter’s
young daughter. Realising that his employer will oppose the
union, Duroy buys himself the title of a noble family, unaware that
one man still possesses the title. Madame Walter takes her
revenge by finding the man whose
title he has usurped. The latter challenges Duroy to a
duel...
Review
The Private Affairs of Bel Ami was
the third of three literary adaptations by producer-director Albert
Lewin, who directed just six films in the course of his career. W.
Somerset Maugham and Oscar Wilde provided the source for Lewin’s
previous two films, The Moon and
Sixpence (1942) and The
Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), whilst this one was based on the
novella Bel-Ami by Guy de
Maupassant. In all three of these films, the lead was played by
the English actor George Sanders, who was then at the highpoint of his
career in Hollywood.
Two things make this a particularly memorable film. First and foremost, there is Russell Metty’s cinematography, which, with its ominous stark chiaroscuro, conveys a hypocrisy-ridden society where scoundrels such as Duroy prosper at the expense of the virtuous minority. There is one brief moment of revelation – achieved by the insertion of a colour shot of a painting by Max Ernst (The Temptation of St. Anthony) - when Duroy sees his own vile soul and seems to recoil in horror. But the web of darkness persists, driving the caddish protagonist on to his ineluctable doom. The duel sequence which ends the cycle of villainy has the bleakness of the darkest film noir and the poetry of a gothic romance.
Then there are the performances. No one plays silky smooth venality quite like George Sanders and he is an obvious choice for the role of the eponymous scoundrel, Bel-Ami. Sanders is particularly good here and convincingly brings a dual aspect to his character. Although Duroy’s actions are invariably bad, we do see the inner conflict that lurks beneath the surface, a sense that Duroy really wants to be a decent man but just cannot. It is the world around him, a sick greed-driven society, that has made him what he is; he is too weak to free himself from the mould into which he has been cast. The subtle pathos of Sanders’s portrayal is underlined by the heart-rending performances from the actresses who play his victims, Angela Lansbury and Ann Dvorak, making this a haunting and compelling melodrama.
Two things make this a particularly memorable film. First and foremost, there is Russell Metty’s cinematography, which, with its ominous stark chiaroscuro, conveys a hypocrisy-ridden society where scoundrels such as Duroy prosper at the expense of the virtuous minority. There is one brief moment of revelation – achieved by the insertion of a colour shot of a painting by Max Ernst (The Temptation of St. Anthony) - when Duroy sees his own vile soul and seems to recoil in horror. But the web of darkness persists, driving the caddish protagonist on to his ineluctable doom. The duel sequence which ends the cycle of villainy has the bleakness of the darkest film noir and the poetry of a gothic romance.
Then there are the performances. No one plays silky smooth venality quite like George Sanders and he is an obvious choice for the role of the eponymous scoundrel, Bel-Ami. Sanders is particularly good here and convincingly brings a dual aspect to his character. Although Duroy’s actions are invariably bad, we do see the inner conflict that lurks beneath the surface, a sense that Duroy really wants to be a decent man but just cannot. It is the world around him, a sick greed-driven society, that has made him what he is; he is too weak to free himself from the mould into which he has been cast. The subtle pathos of Sanders’s portrayal is underlined by the heart-rending performances from the actresses who play his victims, Angela Lansbury and Ann Dvorak, making this a haunting and compelling melodrama.
© filmsdefrance.com 2009
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Credits
- Director: Albert Lewin
- Script: Guy de Maupassant, Albert E. Lewin
- Photo: Russell Metty
- Music: Darius Milhaud
- Cast: George Sanders (Georges Duroy), Angela Lansbury (Clotilde de Marelle), Ann Dvorak (Madeleine Forestier), John Carradine (Charles Forestier), Susan Douglas Rubes (Suzanne Walter), Hugo Haas (M. Walter), Warren William (Laroche-Mathieu), Frances Dee (Marie de Varenne), Albert Bassermann (Jacques Rival), Marie Wilson (Rachel Michot), Katherine Emery (Mme Walter), Richard Fraser (Philippe de Cantel), John Good (Paul de Cazolles), David Bond (Norbert de Varenne), Leonard Mudie (Potin), Judy Cook (Hortense), Karolyn Grimes (Laurine de Marelle), Jean Del Val (Commissioner), Olaf Hytten (Keeper of the seals), Lumsden Hare (Mayor of Canteleu), Betty Fairfax (Louise)
- Country: USA
- Language: English
- Runtime: 112 min
- Aka: Women of Paris
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Drama / Romance






