Film Review
L'Odeur de la mandarine,
director Gilles Legrand's fourth feature, is a sumptuous melodrama that
looks suspiciously like an adaptation of a D.H. Lawrence novel.
In fact it is an original work, although its authors no doubt scripted
it whilst under the influence of Lawrence's
Lady Chatterley's Lover (having
presumably re-watched Pascale Ferran's highly charged
2006 adaptation). With
Yves Angelo, one of France's most acclaimed cinematographers, in charge
of photography, the film exemplifies French cinema's penchant for high
class period drama, although the quality of the design and central
performances are sadly not matched by the script, which, being too
self-conscious in its literary pretensions, courts ridicule with its
abundance of cliché and animal-based metaphor.
Legrand's cinema is the kind more likely to appeal to the average man
or woman in the street than implacable critics. His first feature
Malabar Princess (2004)
attracted an audience of just under one and half million but it is
marred by a kind of soggy sentimentality to which the director is
prone, and from which his latest film is far from immune. That
said,
L'Odeur de la mandarine
is easily Legrand's best film to date, a far more coherent and
emotionally involving piece than his previous viticulture-themed drama
Tu seras mon fils (2011),
although this owes more to the sublime performances from lead actors
Olivier Gourmet and Georgia Scalliet than anything contributed by
Legrand and his co-screenwriter Guillaume Laurant.
Olivier Gourmet need no introduction. One of francophone cinema's
most familiar faces and most talented performers, his performance in
Legrand's film (in an unsually romantic role) is as compelling and
authentic as ever. There's hardly a scene in the film in which
his devastatingly fragile character doesn't engage our sympathies, and
it requires no sentiment-tweaking from the scriptwriters to make us
feel the aching desolation of a man who is unable to grasp and take
possession of the thing he most desires. It would take an actress
of remarkable ability not to be totally eclipsed by Gourmet's
heartrending performance, but fortunately the film offers just this, in
the shape of newcomer Georgia Scalliet, someone we shall be seeing a
great deal of in future years if this revelatory cinematic debut is
anything to go by.
Having mastered her craft with the esteemed
Comédie-Française, Georgia Scalliet is revealed in this
first big screen role to be an actress of exceptional quality, not just
stunningly sensual (as the part demands) but capable of seizing our
emotions through a performance of incredible depth and maturity.
Her character is a mass of contradictions, a challenge for any young
actress. Like Constance Chatterley, Angèle is a free
spirit who craves independence and sensual fulfilment, and yet she is
shackled with the grief of a dead former lover and loyalty to the man
she marries not for love, but out of duty and misplaced sympathy.
Scalliet deals with this immense inner conflict with startling
conviction and even if the script does her few favours she impresses as
a performer of rare charm and sensibility.
Up until the point at which the central characters tie the marital
knot,
L'Odeur de la mandarine
barely puts a foot wrong, and what faults there are on the writing and
directing fronts, are mitigated by the sincerity of the performances
and the sheer lyrical power of the cinematography. From the
mid-point on, the film loses its way somewhat as Lawrencian
self-indulgence takes over, aided and abetted by Legrand's irksome
tendency to over-egg the sentiment. Thanks to Scalliet's riveting
performance, it still captivates as a blistering portrait of one
woman's quest for personal fulfilment, but all the skill and passion is
in the build up, the climax being hammered out too complacently for you
to feel you've had your money's worth.
© James Travers 2015
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
At the height of summer in 1918 the First World War continues to rage,
but for cavalry officer Charles the war is already over. After
losing a leg in the fighting he now faces a long and difficult period
of convalescence on his farm in Picardy. To help him, he engages
a nurse, Angèle, who shows up with her little daughter and soon
makes herself indispensable. The solitary invalid acquires a
fondness for his young carer which, over the ensuing weeks, develops
into something deeper. He asks her to marry him, but she refuses,
still loyal to the memory of her former lover who did not return from
the war. In the end, Angèle gives in to Charles's
supplications and they become man and wife, if only in the legal sense
of the term. Even though Angèle is devoted to her husband,
she cannot bring herself to consummate their union. As one war
ends, another, more personal one, is about to begin...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.