Still writing from home, my last night off for a few weeks. Earlier this eve I watched the second of my three Claude Autant-Lara movies, scored from Northridge Libe as noted yesterday. Tonight's film was "Douce" (1943), which directly followed last night's "Lettres D'amour" (1942). Both films were made during the Nazi occupation of France. I don't know the cultural politics that went on at the time, but it seems to me a major accomplishment for a director to even make a film under such circumstances, let alone these works of art. Having become acquainted with the luminous directorial style of Autant-Lara with "Lettres", I was prepared for another good work tonight, but he surpassed my expectations with "Douce", which I would place in the pantheon of great romantic melodramas with films like "Wuthering Heights" and "Rebecca" and any other you care to name.
Odette Joyeux, who also starred in "Lettres", played the title character "Douce", the isolated granddaughter of a wealthy old woman who holds forth over her estate with a sense of class-entitled superiority. She is a mean old wench who lords it over her middle-aged son, the widowed father of Douce.
Douce has a Governess who tutors her, a pretty but very repressed young woman. Douce's father is in love with the Governess, and tells her so. He promises to marry her, but he can't carry out his promise because of the class protocols of French society in 1877. One does not marry one's servant, harrumph!
And Granny rules the household, and she will prevent it if she can. It's one of Those Kinds Of Deals.
But there is a ton of other stuff going on, because the Governess has a secret. She.....well, I can't tell ya without ruining the intricate plot.......but let's just say that she has a previous paramour who is still in love with her. He is connected to the family, but the other problem is that young Douce is in love with him.
What could go wrong? (just like last night)
Man, is it ever messed up. How do those J. Geils lyrics go? "You love her, but she loves him, and he loves somebody else, you just can't win". This story is along those lines, and as with "Lettres D'amour" the plot is layered and intricate. I harp on the deficiencies of modern screenwriting and this is why. This is how you write a story, and shape the plot and turn it into great dialogue. This is how you edit a film. This is classic filmmaking in the early Hollywood style, but again I need to point out that Autant-Lara has a wonderful visual style that has a French look, where you feel like you are actually in Paris in the year 1877, but he somehow makes it seem that you are watching a dream version of the romantic story. He has total command of all cinematic techniques, especially "mise-en-scene", which just means arranging every item in the set and placing the actors and lighting everything in such a way to make every single frame look like a perfect composition, and in this case as I say, you feel as if you are right there in the time and place with these people, but also in a fantasy. This is Love presented as Larger Than Life, which is what it is. But in this case there are many troubles.......which shouldn't be, because Love is Love.
A lot of credit should also go to the players, and especially to Odette Joyeux, who has been fantastic in both films I have seen so far.
"Douce" is a five star movie, I not only give it two huge thumbs up, but if you are in any way interested in foreign cinema, and in classic melodrama, I urge you to check it out. A great, great film. I wish I could tell you more of the plot but I simply cannot. ///
This afternoon I went to Towsley Canyon park in Santa Clarita for an awesome hike. I had more time than usual, today being a day off, and so I went for a four mile round trip - two miles in, two miles back out, and it was a great feeling to get my hiking legs back after having that stupid flu bug. I took a few pics of the rock formations known as The Narrows, then I went halfway up the back of the mountain, and was home in time to finish my Jimmie Nicol book.
I got a lot of stuff done today, and had a lot of fun. Now all I need is somebody to do stuff with. That's the one thing that is still missing in my life and must be remedied :)
Tonight I started a new charcoal drawing, but that is one thing that I've gotta do myself, cause they're kinda weird....
Tomorrow morning I will be back at work and back in church, after missing last week due to flu. It will be good to sing again, and we have an anthem scheduled that allows for full-on belting.
See you in the pews. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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