L'amour trop fort

A talented actor ,tormented soul style,Daniel Duval's only claim to fame was "la derobade " , starring Cesar winner Miou-Miou, a new look at the prostitution ; after a handful of movies ,his career as a director ended with a two-bit thriller "effraction" ,although he carried on with TV works, the most successful being probably "le temps des porte-plumes ,a nostalgic look at old days school.

"L'Amour Trop fort" is a succession of well-acted scenes ,sometimes strong (the statue of Marilyn Monroe flying away in the sky is certainly the apex),but which does not add up ;a main thread is sometimes desperately lacking;besides,if Jean Carmet's and Marie-Christine Barrault's characters are credible, the actor-director's one is rather flat : who could believe that this couldn't care less amateurish guy is an ambitious director whose movies triumph ?Only Carmet deeply moves,because, as a has been , his old pal Charlie is the only human being he can cling to .In spite of the actor's unquestionable talent , Charlie and her bourgeois antique dealer fail to enthuse me .Daniel Duval was made to play tormented souls and he fails to convince in a well-ordered existence .

For many reasons , the film of Jean Carmet . Story of friendship and love, sustained by the precious scene of the gift for his friend- an impressive Marilyn Monroe statue and its strange to poetic fate, it is only a nice sketch of loneliness and acceptance and small people crushed by near events .

The performance of Marie - Christine Barrault is the source of equilibrum in this chain of admentures of a too old actor and young director , the Cehovian veil being one of precious good points.

Difficult to define it, it demonstrates only the effort of Daniel Duval to explore a small world in proper terms and the poetry of couple scenes is a good demonstration in this sense.

But , obvious, something is missing.

The result, a nice, melancholical film.

A rather are and very good product given by the always tremendous actor and film maker Daniel Duval, an actor always on the edge, the razor's edge, very sensitive, borderline character in each role he could have. Here, there is no exception in this story of a man estranged from his former girl friend but still in love with her. Remember him in SI JE T'AIME PRENDS GARDE A TOI, where he co-stared Nathalie Baye, and also played a similar character. Jean Carmet is of course excellent here in Duval's friend who is left by his wife. This feature is partly a comedy, at least light at some moments, but remains a drama, so typical of the French film industry. Love, friendship and bitterness. A rare and excellent French film from the early eighties.