L'étrange désir de Monsieur Bard

The most renowned film of Geza von Radvanyi in his native Hungary is undoubtedly the neorealist 'Somewhere in Europe' of 1948. His later German films are far more 'traditional' in style the best known of which is the remake of 'Girls in Uniform'. Here we have what I believe to be his only film made in France. It is a touching tale of a middle aged, terminally ill man who gambles his pension money in a casino and wins a life-changing amount. He does not wish to leave such a massive sum to his ghastly, dysfunctional family and decides to father a child. He chooses a young, shy and pretty dancer to be a surrogate mother. This is essentially a vehicle for Michel Simon, an instinctive and magnificent actor who claimed never to have had an acting lesson and whose film career spanned half a century, interrupted only by a serious illness in the late 1950's. His astounding presence and the range of emotions he expresses in this make his a performance to treasure. He is ably supported by Yves Deniaud as a faithful friend and the dancer is played by the delightful Genevieve Page in an early role. The family 'adviser' who has the idea of declaring Monsieur Bard insane, is played by Louis de Funes whose appeal has always eluded me.. Radvanyi has the services of one of the worlds greatest cinematographers L. H. Burel and the beautifully understated score is by J. J. Grunenwald. A scene in a church where an organist is playing Bach reminds us that Grunenwald was not only an acclaimed interpeter of that composer but also became titular organist at Saint Sulpice in Paris. An engaging piece in which Michel Simon transcends the art of film acting.

Living in Australia at the time, it was unusual to see a French film as they were not often shown. I was a young boy at the time and was very impressed by both story and actors.As I remember an old single man wants to have a child of his own and therefore makes a young girl pregnant in the understanding that there are no further strings attached as he is doing this to spite his relatives who are waiting for him to die. He can leave what he owns to his child. I know I was young but the way he starts to love his mistress and than goes and marries her out of love touched me very much and after all these years I still think of this film with regard. Michael Simon was a leading French actor pretty highly regarded and Genevieve Page managed to get an international career.

This Cri de Coeur was present in many a Michel Simon movie,often his best ones:Duvivier's "La Fin du Jour" and "Panique" ,Carné's "Quai des Brumes".

Hungarish Radvanyi was no match for these giants of the French cinema.But he displayed originality and anyway Simon is so great an actor he can overcome the worst directing.

The film begins with a prologue using "Sur le Pont d'Avignon" an old French folk song as a metaphor of life.There are many childlike songs in the movie anyway ("Nous N'Irons PLus Au Bois" "Il Etait Un Petit Navire"and more).Simon portrays an ugly man whose days are numbered cause his heart is not in good shape.His family is hateful and he wants somebody to love.He wants a child and he needs -a subject that was risqué for the time- some kind of surrogate mother.

The plot is often meandering and the fable is somewhat ponderous,with hackneyed symbolism (the clock)but when you've got Michel Simon ,you do not need anything else to enjoy a movie.