Film Review
Set decorator at La Scala in Milan and the Royal Shakespeare Company in
London, René Allio made his directing debut with a short film
entitled
La Meule in
1962. His first feature-length film was a comedy-drama
released on 25th March 1965,
La
Vieille dame indigne, a superb adaptation of a novella by
Bertolt Brecht. A commercial success, the film was nominated for
several prestigious awards and won the Prix Méliès
(Critics Award) in 1965. The film's popularity kick-started
Allio's filmmaking career, and a string of successes followed,
including:
L'Une et l'autre
(1967),
Les Camisards (1972)
and
Rude journée pour la reine
(1973).
La Vieille dame indigne is a
gently provocative film which condemns the hypocrisies and flawed moral
values of the time in which it was made. The plot revolves around
an old woman who, in her declining years, decides to take advantage of
the world's pleasures, instead of doing what society expects of her,
which is to play the dignified widow, quietly mourning the loss of her
husband. Anchored between the French New Wave and the rebellious
spirit of May 1968, the film effectively evokes the mood of its era, an
era of shifting moral attitudes and a desire to move on from the
repression and austerity of the past decade.
René Allio not only directed the film, which he does with
understated flair, he also supplied the screenplay, with its enjoyably
crisp dialogue. The soundtrack includes the marvellous number
On ne voit pas le temps passer,
written by singer Jean Ferrat. The grand actress Louise Pauline
Mainguene, better known as Sylvie, portrays the central character with
a roguish charm that is perfectly suited for her part. Sylvie had
an enormous stage career between 1903 and 1959, and her film credits
(spanning three decades) are just as impressive. For the most
part a supporting actress (of the highest calibre), she appeared in
numerous classics of French cinema, including
Entrée des artistes
(1938),
Le Corbeau (1943),
Le Petit monde de don camillo (1951),
Thérèse Raquin
(1953) and
Le Miroir à deux faces
(1958). In
La Vieille dame
indigne, her last film, she played the septuagenarian Madame
Bertini, even though she was in fact 80 years old.
When the French-Tunisian Victor Lanoux, then a 22-year-old
scene-shifter, saw Anthony Quinn on the set of Jean Delannoy's
Notre Dame de Paris (1956), he
made up his mind there and then to become an actor. As Sylvie's
kind and dreamy grandson Pierre, Lanoux shows a natural talent at the
start of his long and distinguished career. The French-Polish
actress Malka Ribowska (Allio's wife) personifies the liberated youth
of the time as the waitress Rosalie, a woman continually searching for
freedom. Another distinguished name in the credits is Jean
Bouise, one of the most important supporting actors in French cinema
from 1963 to 1990. Having been nominated for
Césars for his work on
Le Vieux fusil (1976) and
Le Juge Fayard dit Le Shériff
(1978), he finally received the Best Supporting Actor award for
Coup de tête (1980).
Here, in his fourth film, Bouise plays the the imaginative shoemaker
Alphonse with his customary flair. The supporting cast offers an
ensemble of delightful comedians that includes Étienne Bierry,
François Maistre and Pascale de Boysson.
La Vieille dame indigne
attracted an audience of 0.65 million on its first release in France
but has rarely been seen since. An engaging and well-crafted
film, its underlying moral is not quite so ambiguous as it first
seems...
© Willems Henri (Brussels, Belgium) 2013
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Film Synopsis
Madame Berthe is 70 years old when her husband dies. She has two
children, Albert and Gaston, who work nearby in Marseilles.
Albert hopes to use the money that his father left to save his business
from bankruptcy. Gaston is equally determined to get his hands on
his father's money, by getting his mother to move in with him.
However, Berthe has no intention of handing over the money and decides
that, for the first time in her life, she will live for herself.
She intends to see something of the world, so she buys a car and starts
making new friends...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.