Le Château de verre (1950)
Directed by René Clément

Film Review

In common with many of Réne Clément's films of the early 1950s, Le Château de verre has the characteristics of a transition piece, a film that spans the gulf between between the star-driven quality tradition of French cinema, that had achieved its zenith in the late 1940s, and the auteur-driven modernist trend that came with the French New Wave in the late 1950s. At first sight, this film appears to be a conventional melodrama, but look a little closer and you will see that it is quite a subversive film for its time.

One of the hallmarks of Clément's films from this period is the use of natural locations to give an impression of realism  and immediacy that was lacking in the largely studio-bound productions of his contemporaries.  The camerawork, which includes long tracking shots and spectacular wide-angle bird's eye shots, brings an almost documentary-feel, an approach which the directors of the Nouvelle Vague would use extensively in their films in attempt to break away from the stuffy studio traditions of the past.  The film was adapted from a novel by the celebrated Austrian writer Vicki Baum, whose most famous work, Menschen im Hotel, had previously been adapted as Grand Hotel in 1932.

What is particularly daring about this film is its unusual narrative construction.  Breaking with the conventional linear approach, Clément takes the ending and boldly inserts it near the middle of the film, so that the denouement ceases to be a denouement but instead becomes a portent of doom.  This is achieved ingeniously by having the lead character, played by Michèle Morgan, move the hands on her wristwatch forward a few hours.  The future she imagines is quite unlike the one we see, which is a grim tragedy that compels us to see the rest of the film in a completely different light.

This departure from the linear narrative approach and playing with time and memory naturally brings to mind the films of Alain Resnais, one of the most innovative of the French New Wave directors.  Indeed, it is hard not to watch this film and see similarities with Resnais' L'Année dernière à Marienbad (1961), a startlingly dreamlike film in which our notions of time and space are dispensed with altogether.

René Clément made Le Château de verre between two of his biggest critical successes, Au-delà des grilles (1949) and Jeux interdits (1952), which were both recipients of the Best Foreign Film Oscar.  This could explain why the film is one of the director's least known works today, even though it was highly regarded on its initial release.  The high calibre cast includes two of French cinema's greatest icons, Michèle Morgan and Jean Marais, who not only turn in two spellbinding performances but also give the film a heartrending poignancy.  The film may not be as intense and visually arresting as some of Clément's subsequent films, but it is nonetheless a compelling piece, crafted with skill and sensitivity by one of the true auteurs of French cinema.

Film Synopsis

Evelyne Bertal could not be happier, living the kind of life most people would envy in Berne with her devoted husband Laurent, a lawyer.  She seems to be settled for life and knows that she could never fall for another man - until she meets Rémy Marsay, a seductive Frenchman.  The encounter happens when Evelyne is holidaying in Italy with her friend Elena.  For Rémy, it is just another holiday romance, and once he has had his fun he is back on his way to Paris to rejoin his mistress Marion, the liaison soon forgotten.  For Evelyne, however, the unwished-for affair has a far greater impact and she is convinced she has fallen in love.

Evelyne is encouraged that Rémy feels the same way about her when he sends her an invitation to spend a weekend with him in Paris.  Despite her devotion to Laurent, she cannot resist joining her secret lover, and by the end of the weekend Evelyne is certain that she has found her ideal partner.  Before she heads back home, she notices a glass ornament in the shape of a castle.  Carelessly, she breaks the object and, in doing so, she takes this as sign that in pursuing Rémy she may be ruining her own life.  She makes up her mind to end the affair there and then and confess everything to her husband.  Unfortunately, she has misread the omen...