TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE
A film review by Frank Maloney
Copyright 1993 Frank Maloney
TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE is a French film directed by Alain Corneau, from a script by Corneau and Pascal Quignard. It stars Jean-Pierre Marielle, Gerard Depardieu, Guillaume Depardieu, Anne Brochet, and Carole Richert. Unrated, includes male and female nudity. In French with English subtitles.
TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE is as serious, slow-paced, and sadly beautiful as the viola da gamba music that pervades the film. The story of the film concentrates on the conflict between the austere, cenobitic master of the viola da gamba (the ancestor of the modern cello), Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe -- whose name is otherwise unknown -- and a hack seeking fame and fortune in the court of Louis XIV, Marin Marais. Their personal conflict symbolizes the war between art and commercial success, a subject as relevant today as in the late 17th Century.
TOUS LES MATINS has been compared to no great purpose to AMADEUS, a movie with an entirely different background, tone, style, and focus; the Mozart of AMADEUS sees no conflict between living like courtier and being a great artist and the subject of that film is an examination of the question "What is genius?" The genius in TOUS LES MATINS lives a life dedicated to fifteen-hour practice days and rural simplicity; he refuses to go to Versailles to play for le Roi du Soleil, the Sun King, just as he refuses to publish his compositions.
A more useful comparison might be made between TOUS LES MATINS and BARRY LYNDON, Stanley Kubrick's much maligned masterpiece (okay, so Ryan O'Neil wasn't the greatest casting choice, but everything else about it was a stunning experience): both films have a deliberate pace that is guaranteed to put off most Americans accustomed to the rhythms of TV and Hollywood movies. And both films are virtually a series of tableaux vivants, still lifes recreated on film, with a painterly style of design and composition and lighting that delights and fascinates from beginning to end.
The script, written by the director Alain Corneau and Pascal Quignard, is based on Quignard's novel. The film runs 114 minutes, and you will probably feel either caught up in something you would rather never end or you will feel every one of those minutes in your keister. The plot is minimal: relationships develop and change among the small cast. There are few characters outside the principals, there are only a few moments of humor or sex. There are long, long head shots, a voice-over narrative by Depardieu pere, much chiaroscuro, detailed period accuracy, and wonderful music. There is also some talk about what the purpose of music is that helps to clarify to rather mysterious, unknowable Sainte-Colombe. And finally, there are some individual moments that have to be considered small epiphanies for the viewer, as when Marais leads a full baroque court orchestra in a thumping version of his most beautiful composition -- an utterly astounding scene probably by itself worth the price of a ticket for some of us. Or the very end of the film, which made me gasp out loud and cry, so moving, so beautifully earned, so right was it.
The cast is perfect. The center is Jean-Pierre Marielle (Sainte-Colombe), a veteran actor who has appeared in films such as COUP DE TORCHON and URANUS. He walks that fine line between sainthood and madness; he lives to play and retreats from the world into his music and his visions. He is not likable, I doubt that any saint would be, but he is irresistible and powerful. Anne Brochet, who played Roxanne in the Depardieu CYRANO DE BERGERAC (1990), is every bit as strong as Madeleine, Sainte-Colombe's older daughter. She is the link between her father and Marais in life and in death. Carole Richert plays the younger daughter, the daughter who is not a slave to her father's obsessions.
The two Depardieus, father and son, play Marin Marais as the middle-aged "successful" courtier and as the raw youngster who first presents himself to become Sainte-Colombe's student. Gerard Depardieu puts on a fearless performance, especially the opening sequence, a long close-up of the ruined face of a failed, foppish man who finally knows he's a hack, and at the end as he finds and redeems himself. Guillaume Depardieu, the 21-year-old son, has a lighter acting style and a strong resemblance to his famous father as well as to Julian Sands.
TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE has proved to be an enormous success in France, where it sold 2 million tickets in a year, sparked a revival of interest in French baroque music, and won seven Cesars (the French Oscars) -- best picture, director, music, and supporting actress (Brochet), amongst them. The soundtrack featuring the viola da gamba of Jordi Savali and the music of Marais, Sainte-Colombe, Couperin, and Lully has been a success in its own right wherever the film has played.
In the U.S., the film's success will be limited to the art-house circuit and not even everyone there will like it for its pace and plotlessness. For those willing or able, or both, to give TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE a chance, the rewards can be enormous. If you are one of those, I recommend this film to you most highly.
-- Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney .
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