writers_reign
If anyone is entitled to curse his luck it has to be Marc Allegret. Consider: He shot Felicie Nanteuil in 1942, the milieu is the French theatre at the end of the nineteenth and beginning (the last reel takes us to 1902)of the twentieth; it revolves around a beautiful, charismatic and fiery actress (Micheline Presle) loved by both an actor (Claude Dauphin) and a civilian (Louis Jourdan)and eventually one of the three winds up stiffer than Charlton Heston trying to play comedy. There was nothing wrong with any of this, indeed it was one of Allegret's most accomplished films BUT: They released it in 1945. Still not with me? Les Enfants du Paradis anyone. Yep, dix sur dix, Allegret's story is the skeleton of Les Enfants, a skeleton on which Prevert and Carne would graft far more succulent flesh and turn out something far more sumptuous than Allegret. Had Felicie Nanteuil been released when it was made we may well be accusing Prevert-Carne of plagiarism. Be that as it may this is a really great film, Micheline Presle peaked here so that when she went on to make Boule de Suif and Le Diable au corps she actually progressed to a point BEYOND Magnificence. Claude Dauphin is almost her equal as the tragic actor and if there is a weak link it is Louis Jourdan. It is more than possible that the success of Les Enfants - an undisputed classic - completely eclipsed this more modest effort which is both overdue for and worthy of reevaluation.
dbdumonteil
"Felicie Nanteuil" was actually completed in 1942 but had to wait for the end of WW2 to be released:the star,Claude Dauphin ,had joined the FFI (resistance fighters)and the German authorities banned the movie."Felicie Nanteuil " can be considered Marc Allégret's best work.He transferred Anatole France' s book "Histoire Comique " to the screen.This is not really a funny story .It begins as a light comedy ,becomes a real drama in the second third then almost turns into a thriller in its last one.The two leads ,Claude Dauphin ,and above all Micheline Presles give superlative performances :I read she was a very demanding actress ,and it shows.Handsome Louis Jourdan provides fine support as the count of Ligny.La Belle Epoque (wonderful re-creation): Cavalier ,a second -rate actor , discovers a gorgeous talented girl who performs on stage .He wants to be her Pygmalion and he begins to teach her acting.It's not long before the babe realizes she is much more gifted than her teacher ,a not-so-handsome man who has fallen in love with her.Besides both met the count of Ligny ,a buck who makes a fool of the Belle's mate ("You must be very smart to play such an idiot on stage!")and begins to seduce her. Reciprocal passion.The plays wonderfully fits into the plot : when Dauphin declaims the famous Cyrano De Bergerac's monologue about his nose,it 's his own story he tells and it's become as prophetic as his part of Arnofle in Molière 's "L'Ecole Des Femmes" opposite his young protégée as Agnes who will not be an ingénue anymore pretty soon.The ridiculous play (which was probably an invention of the script writers) dealing with the compromising letters reveals Cavalier's deep malaise:he is twice a loser ,as a lover and as a thespian.After he took his own life, Felicie is deeply moved when she has to say terrible lines about a hole in the head.And if the message is not clear enough ,before the actress tells the count they must part ,she recites lines from Racine's "Bérénice" , in which the heroine will live a life of renunciation.The last third of the movie is so unexpected it seems to come from another one: Felicie is afraid that Cavalier might kill her and she seems to see him everywhere ,in a carriage ,or behind a tree or at the dark end of the street ;and when he dies,his spirit will haunt her apartment,all the theaters in which she performs.Smitten with remorse,she knows she won't be able to love the count anymore:let down the curtain ,and exit the play ,the crowds have gone home and 'let's have a grandma's dinner with Foie Gras and Marrons Glacés".Another buried treasure of the past of the French cinema,another must for anyone interested in it.
