Film Review
For
Édouard et Caroline
director Jacques Becker takes his inspiration from the American
romantic comedies of the 1940s that were proving to be highly popular
in France after the war. Becker may not quite have the Lubitsch
touch but his first attempt at a rom-com is an enjoyable diversion from
his more serious and more widely appreciated dramas. Made
immediately before his best known film,
Casque d'or (1952),
Édouard et Caroline could
hardly be more different in tone and yet it possesses a similarly
delicate poignancy beneath its frivolous surface and unashamed mockery
of the bourgeois milieu.
As in his earlier
Antoine et
Antoinette (1947), Becker draws on his own experiences to paint
an authentic portrait of a young couple struggling to hold together
their crumbling relationship. The changing moral climate and
relaxation of censorship rules allowed Becker to be more honest about
what goes on within the four walls of a young couple's apartment, and
so the bouts of bickering and attempts to patch things up all carry an
obvious erotic charge. The critics on the
Cahiers du cinéma were quick
to praise the film for its modernity and were clearly influenced by it
when they started making films towards the end of the decade.
François Truffaut's
Antoine et Colette (1962) and
Jean-Luc Godard's
Le Mépris (1963) both
have an obvious connection with
Édouard
et Caroline.
As the lead characters, Daniel Gélin and Anne Vernon perfectly
incarnate the thoroughly modern couple, a romantic pairing that Becker
would re-employ (somewhat less successfully) on a later comedy,
Rue de l'estrapade
(1953). Gélin and Vernon were both very much stars of the
moment, symbols of a liberated youth that bristled with optimism,
unaffected by the privations their parents had known in previous
decades. Both actors bring a dangerous edge of modernity to their
performances that is striking for a French film of this time.
Throughout most of the first third of the film, Gélin walks
around in an unbuttoned shirt and underpants as if totally oblivious to
the fact. Later, Vernon sends out some pretty unmistakable
signals that she is ready to be seduced. Such overt sexuality
would have been unthinkable just a few years previously and would only
became widespread a decade later.
Édouard et Caroline is too
easily dismissed as one of Becker's lesser works, but it is one of the
director's most forward-looking and authentic films, lifting the lid on
conjugal life and revealing it to be anything but a bed of roses.
© James Travers 2013
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Jacques Becker film:
Casque d'or (1952)
Film Synopsis
Édouard and Caroline are a young couple who believe they have found
lasting happiness, even though they come from very different milieus.
Édouard's origins may be in a humble working class background but
he is a gifted musician and knows he has the talent to become a world-class
concert pianist. Caroline is unconcerned by her partner's modest roots
and bitterly resents being shunned by her bourgeois family, who are unlikely
to forgive her for marrying so far beneath her on the social ladder.
Then comes the evening that provides Caroline with an opportunity to patch
things up with her relatives whilst allowing Édouard to raise his
profile and maybe obtain the contacts he desperately needs to get himself
started in his career.
At a lavish party organised by Caroline's rich uncle, Édouard has
been invited to give a piano recital. Who knows where this could lead?
Offers of work may come flooding in! Unfortunately, the evening gets
off to a bad start when Édouard loses his waistcoat and Caroline realises
that the expensive dress she was planning to wear doesn't suit her at all.
These inconsequential hitches soon become magnified tenfold and in no time
the husband and wife end up arguing over nothing. His marriage now
looking as if it is in ruins, Édouard leaves for the party and does
as is required of him, playing at the piano to the delight of the other guests.
He at least has made a good impression.
But then Caroline shows up, in the company of another man - her seductive
cousin Alain. If Caroline had wanted to provoke a scene in public she
could not have chosen a more effective way of doing so. Aware that
Alain has had amorous designs on his wife for some time, Édouard allows
his hackles to rise and gets into another fierce dispute with Caroline.
Far from being a complete disaster, the evening ends with Édouard
walking away with a lucrative contract. The question is: can he and
Caroline make things up or is their separation now inevitable...?
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.