ETERNAL RETURN (L'Eternel Retour) (director: Jean Delannoy; screenwriter: Jean Cocteau; cinematographer: Roger Hubert; cast: Madeleine Sologne, Jean Marais, Jean Murat, Yvonne de Bray, Pierre Pieral, Jane Marken, 1943-FR.)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
The influence of Cocteau is felt everywhere in this dreamlike and fluid film that opens by stating Nietsche's philosophy: that love is recurring eternally. It is an ill-fated love story about Marais and Sologne, who fall in love but who have no control over their lives. This is an updated fable of the Teutonic lovers, Tristan and Isolde.
Because the stars looked so German and blond, it made the film unpopular in Paris at the time it was shown, which was during the heart of WW11. It is now considered to be a film classic, outliving the initial rejection of it.
Murat is the wealthy, middle-aged uncle of Marais, who is lonely in his castle since his wife died, and has invited Marais and his deceased wife's obnoxious sister (Yvonne de Bray), and her useless husband, and evil dwarf son, who is 24-years-old, to live with him. Marais feels sorry for his kind uncle, and tells him he will go across the country and bring back a young and beautiful bride for him, so that he won't be lonely. He brings Sologne back, but finds that he himself has fallen in love with her.
I did not feel that there was real passion on screen between the lovers, though I could accept their love intellectually and could understand that their fate was to die next to each other... But It was the dwarf (Pieral) who towered over all the others, his malevolent role is a classic in evil, as he spies on everyone in the castle, manipulates his possessive and nasty mother, treats his drippy father with disdain, and taunts Marais.
The film satisfied my aesthetic senses. I thought it had magical qualities and enough of a brooding atmosphere to make up for my inability to be won over by Sologne's performance. She was the weak link in this otherwise forceful film.
REVIEWED ON 10/20/98 GRADE: B
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
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