Film Review
When Oscar Straus's three act operetta
Trois valses was first performed in
France in 1937, it was the perfect vehicle for Yvonne Printemps and her
husband Pierre Fresnay, a couple who had already ignited the celluoid
together in Abel Gance's film
La
Dame aux camélias (1934). The following year, the
popular stage production (performed at the Théâtre des
Bouffes-Parisiens in Paris) was translated to the big screen in
predictably opulent fashion, with Printemps and Pierre Fresnay
reprising their roles in what is very nearly a two-handed piece (there
are some other actors in the film,
but you just don't notice them). The much-vaunted
Printemps-Fresnay chemistry is no fiction, as this film amply
demonstrates. Not only do the lead actors spark off one another
brilliantly, like two over-charged electrodes wired up to the National
Grid, they are also clearly madly in lust with each other. Every
scene in which they appear together sizzles with an unmistakable erotic
tension.
Les Trois valses was
competently directed by the German filmmaker Ludwig Berger, one of a
handful of films that he made in France, and, owing to its episodic
format and Straus's music, it has something of the character of the
films that Max Ophüls would make at the tail-end of his career -
La
Ronde (1950) and
Madame de... (1953). The
middle segment is by far the strongest, more substantial than the
flimsy opener and far less whimsical than the concluding
instalment. It is also the only part of the film where the
musical numbers (or is it the same number repeated several times?) fit
naturally into the narrative instead of looking like a clumsily bolted
on afterthought.
La Belle Époque certainly suits Yvonne
Printemps and she has seldom looked more glamorous than she does here, a
dazzling belle of the Parisian music hall circa 1900. When the
story hops forward to 1939 things take a turn for the decidedly silly
(goodbye Belle Époque, hello American screwball) and you half
expect the Marx Brothers to show up at any moment. Fortunately,
the Printemps-Fresnay magic is strong enough to hold it all altogether,
and whilst the film doesn't quite live up to its promise, it still
manages to be an enjoyable diversion. You can't help wondering
how many cold showers the lead actors got through been takes,
though. The water bill must have been phenomenal.
© James Travers 2015
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
In 1867, at the time of the Second Empire, a young military man named
Octave de Chalencey falls in love with a humble ballet dancer, Fanny
Grandpré. Alas, Octave's aristocratic family are totally
opposed to their union and Fanny has no choice but to forsake her love
for the honour of the man she loves. In 1900, Fanny's daughter
Yvette is a star of the Parisian music hall and soon catches the
attention of Philippe, the son of her mother's rejected lover. A
whirlwind romance ensues but when faced with the choice of marriage to
a man of dubious morals or a glittering career on the stage, Yvette
opts for the latter. In 1939, Fanny's granddaughter Irène
is a film star who is about to make a movie based on her grandmother's
tragic love affair. Octave de Chalencey's grandson,
Gérard, an insurance agent, is roped into playing his
grandfather in the film. This time, it seems that nothing will
impede the course of true love...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.