Le parfum de la dame en noir

A genuinely funny and thought provoking film, with a number of surreal elements, and a lot of humour. The leading lady is always wanting to eat and announcing a meal - with shades of Bunuel's Discreet Charms - and there are very funny jokes dispersed amongst the film in the most unexpected places. It is very off the wall, and although others have said that it has disjointed dialogue etc, that's what's intended, and it is more like real life in a remote Cote d'Azure fort with such an odd bunch of people would be.

It's great - well worth a view. I saw it on a plane with English subtitles, and am now searching to see if I can buy it on DVD with subtitles.

Third version of the "Mystère de la Chambre Jaune" /"Parfum de la Dame en Noir" novel (two novels which are actually one long story divided into two parts ).For the record,there was Marcel L'Herbier (1930) whose films were not bad ,and Louis Daquin (1948-1949).Plus an excellent MTV "Mystère de la Chambre Jaune" starring Claude BRasseur as Rouletabille in 1965 followed circa 1966 by a "Parfum" as a miniseries with different actors .

The Podalydès bros have a lot of qualities.They try to get the contemporary French movie out of convention,they try new tacks with talent ,they introduce emotion (the relationship Rouletabille/Mathilde is not far from an incest and there's certainly a Freudian relationship with his father Larsan :the "burial at see" filmed from a distance,while Rouletabille is alone on the boat whilst his companions are staying in the fort is revealing)and a sense of humour (One of the ladies is shouting "A table!" every ten minutes).My God!They try to outdistance Claude Chabrol in the field of gastronomy!And of course,there's the obligatory tribute to Hergé and Tintin: in the fort ,there is a portrait of a captain of long ago,who resembles Le Chevalier de Hadoque ,captain Haddock's ancestor in "le Secret de la Licorne".The iron mask is borrowed from Dumas .As for the submarine...

The problem is that the Podalydès bros made a complicated story out of a muddled novel-certainly inferior to "le Mystère .. " the plot of which was close to perfect.Even the 1930 version was sometimes difficult to catch up with....It's not easy to introduce melodrama elements into an extravagant thriller.Rouletabille was a sleuth in "Mystère" ,he 's turned into a conjurer in that follow-up.Like father,like son.

The best scene might be the flashback when Rouletabille was a child in a boarding-school.This memory lane has a sense of mystery (as if the P. bros were recalling "Les Disparus de Saint-Agil" or "Le Visiteur" )which eludes the rest of the movie.

I find it difficult to write anything about this odd gem. Don't expect a hard logical development like in an Agatha Christie book adaptation. From the start, in the character's description, you know you are in front of a farcical/ burlesque whodunit.

Like in Resnais'"Les herbes folles", "On connaît la chanson" and "Smoking/No Smoking" (all starring the perfect actress, Sabine Azema, the last two also with Pierre Arditi as on this film) this films relates more to the brain than to "our hearts", to simplify it.

Some will call this kind of film "typically French", I really don't think so; in any case I hope not :).

The technical aspects are of course perfect, images in particular.

Directed by the brother of actor Denis Podalydès, who also has a family relation playing himself as a child, this film feels like those fanzines that make roar of laughter some selected club of "insiders", and leave the rest wondering what's it all about. Don't get me wrong, I liked having watched this film, but I understand it's not for everybody.

My favourite scene is when Rouletabille is trying to hide himself, but ends up making noises in the most unbelievable of ways, like a "mad machine".

Enjoy.

maybe I expected too much from the adorable Mystère De la Chambre Jaune sequel. The dull titles unlike the rejoicing Caro&Jeunet titles of the Rouletabille saga first episode foreshadow the major flaw of the picture: an overall disenchantment spreading to the screenplay and the actors. Gaston Leroux novels whose story lines are typically slowly-told and far-fetched must be hard to adapt yet they matched director Bruno Podalydès universe so far. However the blatantly clumsy dialogs create an uneasiness between the actors who miscommunicate with one another. And that's a sheer pity for the undreamed-of cast gathers not only the jolly almost-Pierre-Brasseur-like Bruno Podalydès and his skinnier and witty younger brother Denis but also a myriad of picturesque parts that goes from Claude Rich cameo to the imposing Oliver Gourmet performance. Indeed the breath-taking location shots invite the spectator to a stay in the wild and craggy island of Port Cros. Nevertheless I couldn't merge in the picture at all just like the touching, melancholic and mysterious Stangerson Professor embodied by the faultless Michael Lonsdale who sits on a chair facing the azure sea a palette in his hand wondering what he's longing to paint.