Typhon sur Nagasaki
1957 Drama / Romance
|
Credits
|
|
|
Summary
A French engineer, Pierre Marsac, accepts a posting with an oil company in the Japanese
city Nagasaki, where he falls in love with a young local girl, Noriko. Pierre is
all set on marrying Noriko when an old flame, Françoise, suddenly turns up out
of the blue. Françoise is determined to win back her former lover and seems
to succeed, until a violent typhoon hits the area...
Review
Although competently directed, with a keen appreciation of Japanese culture and society,
Typhon sur Nagasaki is a somewhat passionless affair, barely sustained by the personalities
of its two lead actors. Jean Marais and Danielle Darrieux would appear to be the
ideal choice to star in a romantic drama but there is very little chemistry between them
and consequently the film feels largely flat and unconvincing. Although there
are a few references to the fate suffered by Nagasaki during World War II, more could
have been made of this, perhaps to remind us of the transient nature of love whilst emphasising
the divisions between East and West. The film’s artistic strengths lie elsewhere,
primarily in Henri Alekan’s sumptuous location photography, although the special effects
in the film’s climactic last fifteen minutes are also impressive. Overall, however,
the film is a let down, feeling more like a shallow imitation of the 1950s Hollywood romantic
melodrama than a serious European film of the same époque.
© James Travers 2004 Write a review for this film... |
|
