Die Schönen der Nacht

Beautiful, dreamy, magical, funny romp through the ages of French history, though the ending is predictable. *** out of 4.

I'm so happy I was able to find this extremely obscure movie; it's adorable! If you've never seen the Woody Allen gem Midnight in Paris, don't keep reading my review of Beauties of the Night, since I'm going to spoil the surprise of that modern comedy.

You've probably never heard of this one, but if you're in the mood for something light and funny, or if you're suffering from insomnia, you'll really appreciate it. It's a comedy about a young composer, Gérard Philipe, who lives above a garage in a small town. All he wants to do is sleep, but the noises of the town and townspeople keep him awake. When he's finally able to doze off, he gets transported into an interesting, engaging dream. By day, he's an unknown, unimportant musician, but in his dreams, he's a revered opera composer who can get any woman he wants. Now here comes the spoiler alert, so if you haven't seen Midnight in Paris, I'm giving you one last chance to stop reading: In Gérard's dream, he talks with an older gentleman who says a paraphrase of, "Things were better in my day!" Instantly, Gérard finds himself in a different time period, hairstyle, and costume. This continues in dream after dream, until eventually Gérard winds up walking around with dinosaurs!

This movie is hilarious. It's stylized and funky, and of course it's over-the-top. That's the point! If you've gone without sleep, you're going to dream up some ridiculous things. If you're a composer consumed with a wish for your music to become famous, of course people in your dreams are going to start randomly singing. If it sounds cute to you, you'll like it. I have no idea if Woody Allen ever saw this obscure movie and wanted to tweak the storyline to change a composer into a writer and add in a bunch of artistic icons, but if he did, he owes a lot to writer-director Réne Clair. Ladies in particular will like this cute comedy, since the leading actor is so gorgeous and energetic. He didn't make many movies in his brief career, so treasure him while you can.

This film is highly recommended for those people who have an appreciation of an elusive quality called charm. Charm is in short supply in today's cinema be it French, American or other. Charm is difficult to define, but you know it when you see it. The daydreams of a young composer may seem like a frivolous topic, but an actor of the caliber of Gérard Philipe make it all seem so worthwhile. The essence of the story, for me anyway, is the collision between dream and reality - our hero is constantly reminded of how ordinary life is, how unsatisfying compared to his luscious fantasies. He is constantly brought crashing down to earth. But these scenes are precisely the funniest ones. I recall especially the scene in the classroom where the kids mock him to death - how humiliating, but still it's hilarious.

Gérard Philipe said that the director René Clair left nothing to chance. Every tiny detail, every nuance was carefully thought out in advance. The greatest problem for René Clair was that of rhythm. Apparently they were always trying to shorten certain scenes by a few seconds in order to heighten the comic effect.

One of the greatest of all directors and an actor of unquestioned skill, conscientiousness and charm collaborate on an effort that reminds us of what French culture used to be. It may seem dated or even corny to some, but I hope that for others it serves as an image of cultural values that will not be seen again.

The protagonist's situation is similar to Walter Mitty's, expect that his fantasies are not waking ones, but rather, occur when he drops off to sleep, and they don't always go the way he'd have them go. The device of dream narratives shows Clair's fidelity to his surrealist roots, especially during the dream debut of the main character's "opera". I was surprised at how low other users rated this film, but I guess it's in keeping with Maltin's opinion that Clair's films after WWII were not up to his prewar standards. Ignorance is bliss, I guess: I thought it was great! Perhaps the character development is somewhat superficial, but the film is funny and fast-paced, with good production values and appealing principals.

A splendidly madcap yet romantic depiction of the lure of the dreamworld on a down-at-heel composer. All told with a lot of vim and vigor but it still ends up dragging a little, never really engages the emotions, and as usual with Clair, the songs are poor.

The recurring joke from progressively older and older historical figures about how things used to be better when they were young is brilliantly executed, and the representations of the slipping in and out of the dream world reminded me of Eternal Sunshine as much as anything else.

A little too random and hit and miss overall but it's still an amazing idea for a story, perfectly realized on the technical level, and lovely to look at.