La merveilleuse visite

The great director of LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS, QUAI DES BRUMES, etc. made this odd low-budget trifle in 1975 at the end of his career.

It's an old story: a stranger appears, mysteriously innocent, knowing nothing of the ways of human society. Spielberg's version of this story is E.T., where the stranger is an alien from outer space. Truffaut covered similar ground with his L'Infant SAUVAGE.

In Marcel Carne's version the stranger claims to be an angel. Appearing naked and dazed on a beach near a small town, the angel is rescued and cared for by the local priest and sexton. They call him "Jean". Jean's lack of understanding of money, clothing, and appropriate social behavior leads to some mildly amusing, if predictable, vignettes.

Carné, director and screenwriter, seems a lot like "Jean" himself: innocently trusting that this mild, familiar fable is enough to satisfy a 1970s audience. He seems to believe, as many older folks did back then, that there was something holy and superior about the hippie lifestyle. Jean seems at times to be a sort of sacred hippie -- an idealized hippie, minus the sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll.

The angel is played by a very attractive young actor. Carné's camera rapturously celebrates his beautiful face, shining blond hair, and slim, tanned body without any self-consciousness. One wonders if Carné was truly as innocent as Jean and didn't realize how homo-erotic his film was -- although in 1975, critics must have pointed this out.

It's not a very good film, not vivid or original enough to enliven such an old story, but Carne fans should definitely check it out. Its overall tone conveys humility, good taste, quiet honesty, and a love for humanity -- qualities that are increasingly rare among the filmmakers of today.

in this film marcel carne tries to show what happens when an angel falls on earth when a beautiful man falls nude on a french beach. He is very naive and everyone hates him for his beauty and his generosity and especially the boyfriend of a nice blond girl.Everyone knows what will happen and it wont be good (or may be it will) A story where love and good thoughts are always on the screen, nice for days of blues.

"la Merveilleuse Visite" was to be ,unfortunately,Carné's last movie:it stands as a cheapskate epitaph,a cardboard stone,a sad end to a career which produced some of the very best (and I mean it) works of the French cinema .Carné had planned another movie,"Mouche",based on the short novel by Guy De Maupassant:it promised a return to form,but the producers turned their back on him and Carné never got his wish.

In 1942,Satan sent two of his devils to drive the humans to despair:the screenplay was written by Jacques Prévert and the actors were Jules Berry and Arletty.(Les Visiteurs Du Soir)

In 1974,it's God's(?) turn :he sent an angel (or did the angel fall by accident?)in a village by the seaside in Britanny;there is nothing more to say about it:Gilles Kohler (debut)is bland,listless and it takes a lot of faith to believe he is a creature from Heaven;the vicar,his sacristan (played by the faithful Roland Lesaffre ,who is in all the post war works )who receive him in their home are dull uninteresting characters :the priest could have his moments of doubt and hope but as his help says "you do believe Jesus was born from a virgin ,that he rose from the dead,and you do not believe in that miracle!"To all the other villagers,the angel is no more than a village idiot (a role often played by Fernandel),who can play the violin though:but the sounds he produces are not even heavenly.Add A truck driver who gets jealous cause his girl goes for a stroll by the sea with the angel.

NB:Carné's last movie was actually a MTV documentary:"La Bible";although an atheist,he was single-minded .

The angel paints the very grey village after a very grey funeral.

My favorite line is when he talks to the priest about the villages belief in afterlife and why people do not celebrate when people die.

I hoped this movie wouldn't live up to my negative expectations, but am sorry to report it did.

There's not much point listing all my objections, but I will mention the jarring effect, in virtually every scene, of inconsistencies such as the angel's being able to speak fluent French but not knowing what money is.

This defect plagues every fantasy of this sort that I've read or seen dramatized, and is enough to ruin the experience for me--I guess I'm just of too logical a turn of mind to accept something so silly.

Maybe I should stick to documentaries.