Le rendez-vous

Eclecticism has always been Delannoy's trademark.That's why the notorious New Wavelet was always putting him down.

From Madame de la Fayette 's "La Princesse de Clèves" to a Patrick Quentin's detective story,it's a long way indeed.He cast the Duke de Nemours Jean-François Poron as the villain (a photographer) and the princesse de Clèves Marina Vlady's sister,Odile Versois as a black gold tycoon's daughter.A complex plot involves two ex-lovers Annie Girardot and Jean-Claude Pascal,the photographer who is also a blackmailer,a wealthy family with a bad gal ,in the tradition of Dorothy Malone's character in Douglas Sirk's "written on the wind " and of course a cop (Philippe Noiret)..Annie Girardot easily steals the show.

This is a derivative but entertaining thriller ,with a top-notch French cast.Plus ,icing on the cake ,George Sanders!!

From Jean Delannoy, I recently rediscovered 'Les Jeux Sont Faits", a hidden noir romantic and fantastic treasure I saw forty years ago when I was a kid, a story absolutely impossible to forget (and still not available on DVD, what a sad mystery). Written by Jean-Paul Sartre, cinematography by the great Christian Matras.

And I searched in Delannoy's filmography for more noirish tales, and I found "Les Amitiés Particulières" : another story absolutely impossible to forget (from the novel by Roger Peyrefitte adapted by Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost, cinematography by Christian Matras).

And I finally found this mortal "Le Rendez-vous", with a very touching Annie Girardot in a family story again impossible to forget. Sometimes, I thought I was watching a Delannoy's Maigret, this very rich family dealing with too much dark problems. Robert Juillard's cinematography (who worked with great directors like Roberto Rossellini and René Clément as well as the popular Raoul André) is very atmospheric and accurate. The adaptation of Patick Quentin's "The Man With Two Wives" (released in France as "La Vérité Du Mensonge") by Jean Aurenche et Pierre Bost is powerful. And the casting : a touching Annie Girardot, a threatening Jean-François Poron, a nervous George Sanders (speaking french marvelously) a shy but brilliant policeman Philippe Noiret, and many others. Highly recommended.

I haven't seen yet "Le Garçon Sauvage" directed by Jean Delannoy in 1951, sadly unavailable. It seems to be another great surprise by Jean Delannoy.

Jean Delannoy's early work is so lovely and entertaining that it's a shame to have to review his later work. I loved L'eternel retour (those two beauties Marais and Sologne) and La symphonie pastorale (was Michele Morgan ever so lovely?), and found them dramatically effective. The man could shoot a scene, and make it count. I gave Maigret tend une piege 10/10 because his handling of the actors was so good.

But Le rendez-vous is a plodding bore, with too many speaking parts, running on too long (2hr3min!), and a story that doesn't exactly beat the competition for inventiveness. George Sanders speaks pretty good French but his acting is stiff. Odile Versois is really dull as his wife. Andrea Parisy is good as the rich man's daughter and livens some scenes up. Jean-Claude Pascal is terrible, just a clothing dummy trying to act. We are left with Annie Girardot, an actress who could make any piece of nonsense work, and did many times in her wonderful career. Here she is on the sidelines, making a small contribution here and there, and it is not enough. You can give this one a miss.

"Le Rendezvous" is overlong (over two hours), slow, soapy at times, but still reasonably engrossing, thanks to a super cast (including a fluently French-speaking George Sanders) and some unexpected plot developments near the end. Philippe Noiret enters late but steals the show as the wily inspector on the murder case. By the way, the IMDb plot synopsis is wrong on the victim! **1/2 out of 4.