Sirena del Mississippi

The newspaper 'Lonely Hearts' open a door, to correspondence with a girl you soon adore, the feelings mutual, or so it seems, satisfying both your dreams, a marriage is arranged, and she's called for. The girl you meet, is not the one in her photo, but she justifies with reasons and you go, she is beautiful all round, you feel so lucky, with what you've found, it's not too long before you fall, from your plateau.

Louis Mahé loses more than he bargained for when striking up a distance correspondence with Julie Roussel, and then takes a rollercoaster of a ride as his relationship with her is lost then found, untied then bound, twisted and turned before thriving, and then taking several more turns. I'm not sure Jean-Paul Belmondo does anything over and above his usual, but Catherine Deneuve would snare any potential suitor, and I'm pretty sure they'd never be able to break free. A few threads left dangling, some curious editing and leaps of faith, but all in all an enjoyable film in the presence of two star performers from one of the great directors of the time.

This is one of the best films I've seen in the last years.Belmonndo and Deneuve shine in their respective roles, he as a naive plantation owner and she as an enigmatic trickster.Words won't do this masterpiece justice,suffice it to say that this is a movie that explores the darker side of love and the pain,humiliation and capacity for self-delusion that go with it, although it's dressed as a film noir. Forget that feeble remake with Jolie and Banderas, see the genuine artticle instead and treat yourselves to some moments of great cinematic beauty.

This agreeable French movie deals about a millionaire owner of a tobacco factory on an African island nearly to Madagascar named Louis(Jean Paul Belmondo). He's a single man looking wife, then he advertises a bride and gets a gorgeous woman named Julia(Catherine Deneuve). When she spontaneously appears turns out to be much more attractive than expected. He marries to Julia but she suddenly disappears.A French eye private(Michael Bouquet) is hired by Julia's sister and soon he's on the trail of his previous spouse. Later Louis encounters her in a dancing-hall under another name. In spite of the romantic delusion and everything, Louis goes on enamored with his enigmatic wife.

This film is a splendid drama plenty of betrayal,deception, killing, theft and Hitchcockian suspense. Good performances by Jean Paul Belmondo as young proprietary of a cigarette company who seems determined to fall under the spell of a femme fatale and a wonderful Catherine Deneuve as suspect heroine. The film gets several references to the American cinema, but Truffaut(400 blows) was a fervent moviegoer, such as : Johnny Guitar, Colorado Jim, Bogart, and Hitchcock.The USA version was cut numerous minutes and deserves an urgent restoring and remastering. Loosely based on the novel titled'Waltz into darkness' by Cornell Woolrich (Rear window and screenwriter of Alfred Hitchcock hour) who also was adapted in 'Truffaut's The bride wore black'.Colorful cinematography by Denys Clerval(Stolen kisses) and atmospheric musical score by Antoine Duhamel, Truffaut's usual musician.This is one of the best of his suspense movies along with ¨Farenheit 451 and Shoot the piano player¨. Remade by an inferior version by Michael Christofer(2001) with Antonio Banderas, Angelina Jolie and Jack Thompson, full of erotic and lust scenes.

I have to give Director Truffaut the benefit of the doubt here because he's obviously not stupid. So my best guess is that this strange creation is a sort of tone poem to the power of the femme fatale. That is what Catherine Deneuve plays, and despite being swindled nearly to penury by her, the Jean-Paul Belmondo character keeps coming back for more.

There are a few clichés which come to mind, but "Love is Blind" is ironically the most apt, for it is the irresistible beauty of Deneuve that prevents her mail-order husband from accepting the truth. She lied before, so why not again, and again, and again? Clearly the relationship is doomed, but the illusion continues on for now, strengthened by the sacrifice already made on her behalf...

Francois Truffaut's Mississippi Mermaid is a film I've wanted to see for years. Featuring Catherine Deneuve, Jean - Paul Belmondo and the great director behind the camera himself, well, who wouldn't want to see it? And the first third of the movie, set on Reunion Island, didn't let me down. I've seen plenty of movies in my time, but don't think I've ever seen one set on the French territory in the Indian Ocean. The storyline too, about a tobacco planter who engages a mail order bride is intriguing in a time and place far removed from Tinder. It becomes even more so, when she arrives and he discovers it is not the same woman he expected, but he marries her anyway.

We are gifted some telling footage of the tropical island, a potted colonial history of its relationship with France and an extended amplified soundtrack consisting of a mixture of bird and animal exotic sounds. Unfortunately as we descend deeper into the story Truffaut soon relies on colossal contrivances to propel things along.

Belmondo's character Louis, says early on that he didn't fully reveal facets of himself in early correspondence, so as to sensibly establish some secure boundaries. Yet, it would appear in the film that barely a day or two after getting married, he gives his new wife, (Deneuve playing) Julie, open slather on his personal banking and business accounts. Then after Julie subsequently cleans him out (with no-one in the bank obviously batting an eye - lid) and disappears into the ether, of all the women in the world, he just happens to see her on TV and tracks her down quicker than you can say bloodhound. And narrative wise things don't get any better after both individuals reunite.

Twists occur, but again, they appear out of character and forced. Deneuve, at the height of her beauty, is too chic, cultured and well - spoken to play a supposedly poorly educated and raised grifter. Belmondo, never strikes one as a vengeful suitor, capable of murder. However this is the sort of unbelievable stuff Truffaut expects us to swallow.

Miscast as they are, I can't say I didn't appreciate seeing the 2 charismatic French stars, but I have to sadly reiterate, that in my opinion, things fall rather flat, after the lead characters leave their initial tropical locales. However might I suggest that watching Mississipi Mermaid is a much better venture, than chasing up its far inferior 2001 remake Original Sin, with Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas.