El ángel perverso

My first contact with MANON was at age 11 when it played many weeks at the small PLAZA in Washington, DC. The ads said, "Cecile Aubry's gift to the world --- Her body!" To which my older brother said, "What body? She doesn't have one!" Hmm! My poor brother; what does he know? Anyway, I didn't see MANON in 1949, but 56 years later, thanks to eBay, I caught up on this classic, and without disappointment. This film has the authentic feel of classics like Italy's "Bicycle Thief" and "Paisan" --- having the ravages of World War II right there and everywhere you look in 1949, neither war-torn Europe nor attitudes needed to be re-created. The story is involving from the first moments and never lets up. Manon and her soul-mate Robert meet when he helps save her from the collaborator-head-shave she's sentenced to endure as punishment for her attentions to German soldiers. They will remain together throughout her numerous and shameless infidelities, each of which serves both of them, and never with any loss of love for Robert. Cecile Aubry's femme-innocent was a rare thing to see in 1949. Truly experienced men know that getting and holding a young woman like Manon is a never-ending challenge that no real man would ever quit. While traditional "built like a brick you-know-what" sexpots wait in vain for the phone to ring, the femme-innocents are fighting men off like flies. This film will show the viewer many of the dark sides of the pre- and post- liberation era which history might like to have buried. I'll skip over most of the compelling story and just say that the final scenes, when the couple arrive in Palestine along with the Jewish refugees --- these are scenes that define classic movies. Amen!

Manon is directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot and Clouzot co-adapts the screenplay with Jean Ferry from the novel "Manon Lescaut" written by Abbe Prevost. It stars Serge Reggiani, Michel Auclair, Cécile Aubry, Andrex and Raymond Souplex. Music is by Paul Misraki and cinematography by Armand Thirard.

Clouzot, still smarting from the hysterical fall out from his brilliant "Le Corbeau", realigns the Prevost novel to post war France right after the liberation from Nazi occupancy. With his muse set alight, Clouzot set about putting on film the dark venality of the human condition, to show that post war France was hardly a joyous new world. Right here with "Manon" he lets rip, thrusting to the forefront black market racketeers and prostitution, people who inhabit a morally corrupt city in serious decay.

The central narrative concerns Robert Dégrieux (Auclair a splendid dope) and Manon Lescaut (Aubry cunningly adorable), where the former quickly falls in love with the latter and finds himself spun into a vortex of mistrust and misjudgements, becoming more compulsive and foolish by the day. The pursuit of a dream life by both Robert and Manon, runs concurrently with that of the Jewish people attempting to reach Israel, it is here where Clouzot is building towards a quite outstanding last quarter of film.

As the pic pulses away with film noir character beats, these are matched by the visual astuteness of the director and his cinematographer, who use high contrasts and canted angles for narrative embracement. A number of striking sequences grab the attention, be it the portentous meeting of Robert and Manon in the war torn ruins of a church (hello Christ imagery), or a mass trek through the desert beneath ominously low night time clouds, the makers ensure the mood is constantly foreboding.

Superbly performed by the cast, "Manon" is further evidence of what a true great of cinema Clouzot was. 9/10

Even after listening to director, Clouzot talking about the making of this film, it is difficult to understand quite why he made it. Loosely based upon an 18th century tale this has been changed around to fit a 2nd World War situation and must have something to do with the virtual ban he had after the accusations following the release of his brilliant Le Corbeau. In any event, this is a mess and for a man of intellect and literary allusions, a serious misjudgment. Even the structure with the constant flashbacks is unhelpful but the central tale of the young girl out for money and fun and men, leaves the central male and intended saviour looking more like a misguided young fool. The final scenes in the desert are as if from another movie with beautifully shot skies and lines of escaped but doomed Jewish refugees. Almost dreamlike the finale has a surreal quality to it and as the inevitable ending looms so the swirling sands seem destined to envelope both our so called hero and heroine.

"Manon" might well be Clouzot's masterpiece ,surpassing even "diabolique " " le salaire de la peur" or "le corbeau".

It's an adaptation of "l'histoire de Manon Lescault et du chevalier des Grieux" by L'Abbé Prévost, a novel from the XVIIIth century ,but never mind.When HGC Clouzot takes a novel,he makes it his very own .He would do the same for detective story " celle qui n'était plus " which he completely rewrote for "les diaboliques"

Clouzot's misanthropy has never been so omnipresent that in this opus.He became an outcast after the liberation in 1945 because of his "collaboration" -"le corbeau " was produced by a German firm-and one cannot help but think that his painting of the end of WW2 seems a settling of scores:the cropped women -they say it happened to the star of "le corbeau " Ginette Leclerc who had a lot of problems too-,the black market ,the war profiteers ,no one is spared in this wholesale massacre.Serge Regianni epitomizes the scumbag ,in a part which sometimes recalls that of Carné's "les portes de la nuit".But evil is not only inside him,it's everywhere :Clouzot's world is noir ,noir ,noir and leaves absolutely no hope to the audience .

And however the way he films his lovers is stunning:on the ship, Manon under the pouring rain,trying to spend her last hours with Robert;Manon ,in the confessional,in a church in ruins ,explaining to Robert she did not do any harm to anyone and that, had the American come first ,she would not have played around with the Germans ;the first night of love where the lovers become shadows in the dark;Robert finding Manon in a brothel;Manon desperately searching for her lover in the overcrowded carriage ;and mainly mainly the extraordinary final scenes the romanticism of which surpassing even the frenzied passion of "Colorado territory" or "duel in the sun".Actually ,Clouzot's extravaganza is not unlike Von Stroheim's "greed" 's madness.

The male lead ,Michel Auclair,is absolutely extraordinary :the last ten minutes are his and he 's so moving that he carries these sequences in the desert single -handedly as much as he carries Manon' s dead body.But Clouzot's directing will leave you on the edge of your seat as well:the long walk under a blistering sun ,the cactuses which become ghosts from the past ,Robert burying Manon in the sand and screaming that now she's his at last.

Cécile Aubry (debut) portrays Manon . Seven years before Carroll Baker in "baby doll", she is a femme enfant -much more than a femme fatale-.She's not evil,but she lives in a hostile world and she does not want to live like her mother,she needs luxury;it's a sensitive character who feels remorse ,pain and loves Robert dearly even when she cheats on him outrageously.Her good-natured sexuality and her absence of hypocrisy predates that of Brigitte Bardot by seven years too.

Their problem is the world outside :that's why the key of the movie is the sequence in the oasis "why couldn't we stay here forever? " Manon asks.As they leave this haven of peace -the only minutes of happiness in the whole movie" ,Clouzot films their reflections in the cool clear water.And the fact that Manon and Robert are looking for a promise land in the desert in the company of Jews ,what a symbol!"paradise is too far away"she says.

The rest of the cast features some of the best actors of the era:Serge Regianni,Manon's dirty brother;Gabrielle Dorziat ,a madam ,screaming "quel bordel!" ; Helena Manson,the nurse in "le corbeau" who wants to punish the whore who sleeps with the enemy;and more and more and more..

Another permanent feature in Clouzot's work is the sordidness of the places:the crummy boarding-school of "les diaboliques" ,the seedy apartments in "quai des orfèvres" ,the poor hospital in "les espions" ,and here the ship where they pack Jews on their way to Palestine ,not to mention the desert with its animal skeletons -soon to be joined by those of the Jews-

The action of this movie is remarkably dense ,and its construction very subtle :the film begins with the illegal embarkation of the Jews ,and then ,at the least expected moment,the lovers appear for the first time and shortly afterwards tell the captain their sad story .

Did French cinema need the nouvelle vague so bad when it had a genius like Clouzot?"Manon" is an absolute must.

N.B.1.Another modern "Manon" "Manon 70" (sic) was made in the sixties with Catherine Deneuve ,but it was laughable.

2.Cécile Aubry's actress career was short-lived;in the sixties ,she moved into the -rather bland- serial for children ,the likes of "Belle et Sebastien" featuring her own son;she was very successful.

Henri-Georges Clouzot's Manon deserves a 10+ for its breathtaking ambition, and only a slightly lower rating for the film overall. Clouzot had made the magnificent Quai des Orfevres as his first post-war movie, right after his release from a multi-year ban from filmmaking due to accusations of Nazi collaboration. Clouzot chose to base his second film on the 1731 novel Manon Lescaut, one of France's most well-known, important, and enduring literary works, never out of print, and the subject of several previous films and many operas, the most famous being by Puccini. It's an epic melodrama, the story of a young nobleman, Robert, who loses everything, several times over, for his passionate love of Manon, a young woman with a taste for the high life and an ability to manipulate nearly every man she meets. While the original story took place in France and Louisiana, Clouzot transposes it to the very rough world of contemporary postwar France and Palestine, making the story immediately relevant to everyone when shown in theaters.

In addition to giving Manon all the attributes from the original novel - beauty, guile, passion, a lust for wealth and security, and an intense sexuality - he also has her accused of collaboration with the Germans, as he himself had been. And when Robert rescues Manon from the rough "justice" meted out by locals to collaborators, they have no choice but to run away. At first, they struggle on the fringes of the Paris underworld, but when the temptations of prostitution win over Manon, Robert rebels. Manon ultimately does as well, choosing her love for Robert over an easy life, and this leads them eventually to become stowaways with Holocaust survivors, Jews being taken clandestinely to Palestine and their new home in Israel.

Clouzot chose two debutants as his stars, and they delivered great performances. Michel Auclair is Robert, strong and determined, but completely overcome by his passion for Manon. Cecile Aubry is Manon, a wisp of a very young woman, and she is equally believable as a vixen and as a doomed lover. Serge Reggiani is outstanding in a smaller role, as her brother. He acts as the film's moral compass in reverse. The film's dialogue and scenes are bold, provocative, unsettling for the time.

The cinematography is excellent and there are many moving, evocative shots throughout the film, both interiors and exteriors. And the final, audacious, melodramatic scene reproduces one of France's most famous paintings to be inspired by the novel.

Throughout the film Clouzot seems to be telling us that the world is a dirty, rough, unforgiving place, where good and evil do not exist in black and white, where compromise can keep you alive but tragedy looms for those who love too intensely.