Film Review
Midway between his two well-regarded biographies
Pasteur
(1935) and
Napoléon (1955) Sacha
Guitry proffered a film portrait of another important historical
figure, Maria Malibran, one of the most famous opera singers of the
19th century.
La Malibran
stands out in Guitry's oeuvre as the only one with a musical dimension,
which is odd considering that the playwright-cum-director had scripted
several musical comedies for his second wife Yvonne Printemps before he
turned his hand to filmmaking. In affectionate homage to Maria
Malibran, Guitry delivers a vibrant film that is less a conventional
biopic and more a heartfelt celebration of his subject's life and art,
interspersing anecdotes from Malibran's short but eventful life with
authentic recreations of the performances that made her an opera legend.
Guitry was not the first filmmaker to attempt a biography of Malibran;
the previous year, the Italian director Guido Brignone had released
Maria Malibran (1943), with the
Austrian soprano Maria Cebotari cast in the title role. Guitry's
film differs from Brignone's in that it recounts Malibran's life as a
series of flashbacks and, as a result, has more the aspect of a tragic
opera than a conventional biographical drama. For the part of the
legendary singer, Guitry could not have chosen better than the
acclaimed French soprano Géori-Boué, who had only
recently made her debut at the Opéra de Paris at the age of
23. This was to be Géori-Boué's one and only film
appearance and she gives a riveting performance, her lack of
acting experience more than made up for by her charisma and formidable
prowess as a singer. Ever the stickler for authenticity, Guitry refused to let his
star mime to pre-recorded songs and insisted that she sang 'live' as
the film was being shot. In this way, Guitry was able to exploit
Géori-Boué's talents to the fullest, and in so doing
ensures that the film attains its maximum emotional impact,
particularly in its devastating final passage. This
hymn to life, death and music is the closest that Guitry ever got to making a full-blown opera, and
you can't help wondering that the director had long had aspirations in
this direction.
As ever, Guitry puts in a personal appearance in front of the camera,
here casting himself as the villain of the piece, the distinctly
unprepossessing banker Malibran who married the singer and then sponged
off her until she deserted him. (Guitry's habit of marrying women
many years his junior certainly made him suitable for the role - he was
50 when he married 28-year-old Jacqueline Delubac, wife number
three). Jean Cocteau crops up as the writer Alfred de Musset, one
of a host of historical figures that Guitry manages to cram into the
film with scant regard to historical fact. Guitry's fourth wife,
Geneviève Guitry, has a minor role, although she is somewhat
lost in a full-bodied cast that includes such acting luminaries as Suzy
Prim, Jean Debucourt and Jeanne Fusier-Gir, as well as the opera singer
(a star of the Opéra-Comique in Paris) Jacques Jansen.
La Malibran was first released
in France in early May 1944 but it was pulled from circulation shortly
afterwards when Guitry was arrested and imprisoned after the Liberation
on a trumped up collaboration charge. Following Guitry's arrest,
the Direction générale du cinéma placed a ban on
the commercial exploitation of this and all of Guitry's previous films,
which remained in force until October 1947, after the cineaste was
granted a belated acquittal. This goes some way to explaining why
La Malibran is one of Guitry's
least known films, the one that suffered most from his temporary fall
from grace at the hands of his scandal-mongering detractors.
Whilst it hardly rates as one of the director's best films (Guitry's
customary acid wit is conspicuous by its absence and several scenes
appear over-long and painfully static), this one foray into musical
territory is worth discovering, if only to savour the charm and vocal
majesty of the great Geori-Boué.
© James Travers 2014
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Next Sacha Guitry film:
Le Comédien (1948)
Film Synopsis
When she learns of the premature death of her friend, the celebrated
singer Maria Malibran, the Countess Merlin recalls several important
episodes in her life. Maria was destined for a musical career,
being the daughter of the well-known Spanish tenor Manuel
García. Tutored by her father, Maria made her stage debut
at the age of eight and had her first major success in London when she
was 17. It was during a tour of America that she met the banker
Eugène Malibran, whom she married despite the fact he was almost
30 years her senior. Ruined not long afterwards, Malibran became
financially dependent on his wife, who was by now revered the world
over. Her marriage with Malibran effectively over, Maria embarked
on the one true love affair of her life, with the virtuoso violinist
Charles-Auguste de Bériot. Despite being injured in a
riding accident, she insisted on continuing her performances. As
a result she died in her prime, at the age of 28...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.