Si Paris nous était conté

Students complain to Sacha Guitry that the history of the city they all love is taught in a boring way. He offers to tell it as a tale from memory and does so.

The Paris of his tale is drawn visually from paintings in a hopscotch fashion beginning in the 13th century. It is a tale of witticism, of Louis XI (as played by Guitry), and many a well-known performer, like Louis Funes, Danielle Darrieux, Odette Joyeux, Jean Marais, Michele Morgan, dozens of others, linked by Gerard Philippe as a series of troubadours. It's certainly ambitious, but ultimately turns into a highlights of history series of images. Enjoyable for the verve with which it is presented? Definitely. However, it is neither particularly illuminating nor cinematic.

Sacha Guitry died in 1957 and he did not know whether he would finish his movie...He wanted Henri-Georges Clouzot to replace him should he disappear before his work was over.

It was not to be fortunately .It's Guitry's legacy,and it's a delight.Try to see the two movies ("Si Versailles m'était conté and "Si Paris" ) one after the other.They are both witty films ,full of humor -this humor which the Nouvelle Vague did not know- of puns,of anachronisms,of likely stories and historical games.

Guitry's plan was to tell the tale of Paris.Five students come to his house and tell the writer/director history they are taught in their schools is a big bore .As if they were listening to Sheherazade they begin to listen...and we do too...

Unlike so many historical epics,Guitry's work is not linear ,going back and forth between past and present,mixing true historic lines (trial of Marie-Antoinette for instance) and scenes of his own devising (Voltaire's armchair ) It's important to notice the presence of old people and of death in a movie which is a comedy: Guitry insists on the dying Voltaire, and on the centenarians (Fontenelle and the "Cocotte" (= courtezan)).In "Si Versailles..." the best sequences were those where King Louis XIV was getting old .Guitry himself was seriously ill at the time.

Guitry's art is often dazzling:he mixes music,songs (though the

part played by Gerard Philipp is rather bland),dance,mime (and Louis de Funès's talent burgeoning),paintings (Winterhalter's famous "Empress Eugenie and her ladies-in-waiting" suddenly becomes a lively sequence where those women complain about crinoline dresses)...

Many scenes take place in the Bastille ,and deal with its prisoners and the famous Lettres de Cachet which allowed the king to imprison whoever he wanted .Much to the Parisians' surprise after the storming of the prison,there were only seven prisoners then,including two madmen.

Guitry's takes clichés we used to find in old history books (and even still find today)and pushes them to absolute absurdity.Most of the time,it is brilliant: Henri the Fourth had a double (in case of assassination,cause his predecessor Henri the Third was murdered by a monk).When the king (the real king) is killed by Ravaillac,the "stuntman" runs to his mom and shouts :"At last!" Mother gives a sigh of relief "the nightmare's over!"

The main concept of "Si Paris Nous 'Etait Conté" (1956) seems to be that a straightforward history lesson about the history of Paris (and France in general) would be boring, so the writer-director-actor Sacha Guitry spices and mixes things up to make it more entertaining for a bunch of young students listening to him (and, presumably, the audience). But given the end result, I'd take the straight history lesson instead. The film begins with some promise but goes off the rails quickly: it is shapeless and confusing, and - as it usually happens in these cases - most of the big names in the cast are reduced to cameo status. It has good production values, but to little avail. There are a few pleasing parts with Gérard Philipe as a trobadour moving through the ages, but overall the film is a disaster. *1/2 out of 4.

Is this a great movie as movie historians speak of great movies, another Les règles du jeu? No. Is it enjoyable to watch - and watch again? Yes, very much so. As the other reviewer says, it is a very impressionistic presentation of many of the memorable moments in Paris history, often done quite quickly. Some of the dialog is wonderful. (It's no surprise that the Parisian Guitry most admires is Voltaire, whom he presents as the creator of French esprit.) My copy doesn't have English subtitles, and I don't know if such a version exists. They would have to be very good indeed to capture the wit of the original French.

What anyone can enjoy, however, without understanding a word of what is said, is the incredible series of remarkably beautiful women. It is as if Guitry convinced every beautiful actress in France to do a cameo in this movie. And there is not a dumb one in the group. They all deliver their lines with éclat.

Often, I suspect, if you don't know something about French history, there won't be enough in this movie to explain some of the incidents to you. It was clearly made for a French audience who would know who all these people were without requiring detailed explanations.

A nice way to spend 2 hours.