Film Review
Is free will an illusion or do we really have the ability to shape our
own destinies? That is the question that the leading
existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre poses in this, the first of
his few contributions to cinema, which he subsequently made into a
well-known novel.
Anyone familiar with Sartre's work will know
that he was of the view that we
do
have free will, and that this is the central curse of human
existence. In
Les Jeux sont
faits, Sartre argues that having the ability to make choices
freely does not necessarily mean that we are free to decide what
becomes of us. The two main protagonists in the film choose to
act in a way that seems rational to them but, to the spectactor, their
behaviour appears totally perverse, as if they are merely actors in a
scripted drama. Given a second chance at life, they both slip
into their earlier grooves and end up merely repeating what has already
happened to them. Pierre and Ève think they are free but
in fact what happens to them the second time round is completely
predictable. Once the bets have been placed and the roulette
wheel of fate has been set spinning, there is only one hole into which
the ball can land.
After his successful collaboration with Jean Cocteau, another great
thinker of the 20th century, on
L'Éternel retour (1943),
director Jean Delannoy was the natural choice to bring Jean-Paul
Sartre's dark parable about free will to the big screen. Delannoy
may not have been an auteur in the Nouvelle Vague sense of the term
(indeed this is what made him such an easy target for the young Turks
on the
Cahiers du cinéma),
but he was a highly accomplished film director who was known to be
sympathetic to the screenwriters he worked with and the authors whose
work he adapted. The similarity between the film
Les Jeux sont faits and its
identically titled novel is striking and suggests that Sartre was more
than happy with Delannoy's treatment of his screenplay.
Certainly, the film is one of the most eloquent expressions of Sartre's
theories about free will and the autonomy of the individual, and also
the most accessible.
Les Jeux sont faits provides
not only an easy introduction to existentialist philosophy, it is also
a well-crafted piece of cinema in its own right, a good example of what
the culturally insular reviewers on the
Cahiers du cinéma would
contemptuously label 'la tradition de qualité'.
Serge Piménoff's elegant production design and Christian Matras's
moody cinematography provide a subtle but effective demarcation between
the realist and fantastic elements of the story. There are no
distracting transitions and the few special effects which the film
employs are extremely effective. The humour and poetry in
Sartre's screenplay are skilfully rendered by Delannoy and the result
is one of the director's most satisfying films.
Cast in the lead male role is Marcello Pagliero, a prominent Italian
actor and director of the 1940s and '50s who was closely associated
with the neo-realist movement. This was his second screen
appearance, after his memorable debut in Roberto Rossellini's
Rome,
Open City (1945). Pagliero was presumably chosen on
account of his unpolished, working class persona, making him an
effective contrast with his co-star, the supremely elegant Micheline
Presle, who is just as well-cast for the role of a society
heiress. The chalk-and-cheese pairing of Pagliero and Presle
works extraordinarily well - the evident class-separation of their
characters accentuates the animalistic nature of their mutual
attraction whilst providing the dramatic tension that gradually
undermines their relationship.
The supporting cast includes some very distinguished performers,
including Charles Dullin (in his penultimate film role), Marcel
Mouloudji (who was soon to find fame as a popular singer) and Howard
Vernon (shortly before his big break in Jean-Pierre Melville's
Le Silence de la mer).
The film's juiciest supporting role went to Marguerite Moreno, one of
the great eccentrics of French cinema who, by this stage in her career,
was often cast for her comedic talents. Here, Moreno is
magnificent as the clock-watching functionary who checks us all into
the afterlife, dishing out suitably withering putdowns or sweet
grandmotherly smiles, according to the way in which we quit the mortal
sphere.
Les Jeux sont faits
offers many delights, but Moreno's presence is the icing on the cake,
an example of directorial free will at its most reckless and inspired.
© James Travers 2012
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Next Jean Delannoy film:
Aux yeux du souvenir (1948)
Film Synopsis
Pierre Dumaine is the leader of a resistance movement in an unnamed
police state. He is preparing an insurrection when he is shot
dead by an informer. At the exact instant that Pierre dies,
Ève Charlier is poisoned by her husband André Charlier,
the chief of police, so that he can marry her sister. Pierre and
Ève meet in the afterlife, where they are condemned to roam the
world they knew as ghosts, unable to change anything they see.
When they begin to fall in love, they are offered the chance to return
to life for one day. If, in that time, they can prove that they
are committed to one another they will be allowed to remain and live a
full life. Unfortunately, once Pierre is back in the land of the
living he cannot prevent himself from intervening to save his
resistance friends, and Ève feels equally bound to warn her
sister of her husband's wicked intentions...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.