Un amour désespéré

I read the book at 17 and picked it up again. I remember seeing the film many years ago and decided to buy the video. What a find. I had never realized how romantic Sir Olivier could be. Talk about how desperate love can destroy a life at any age. When George Hurstwood, a wealthy manager of a prominent drinking establishment meets naive, trusting Carrie Meeber from Columbia City he is smitten. Right from the moment he spies her entering the men's bar entrance you know from his eyes he is hooked. When he attempts to seduce her away from Charles Drouet I believe he plans to just keep her as a mistress to satisfy his need for love. When he finds she is not to be won over he must sacrifice everything to have her, including forfeiting his property and assets to a shrew of a wife, played unmercifully by Miriam Hopkins.

Olivier's eyes are captivating in every scene with Jennifer Jones, his manners are impeccable the chemistry between them is dazzling. Watch his eyes especially when Carrie declares her love for him in the park. I love this film and it is much more idealistic than the book which describes Carrie as disillusioned when Hurstwood can't support her and thinks him old and useless. In the film her love endures even in poverty. When Hurstwood's son surfaces Carrie encourages him to seek him out for help and decides to leave only for his benefit.

Carrie is not portrayed in the film as the selfish character in Dreiser's novel. You truly believe her love for Hurstwood but at what cost. Hurstwood has the class and wealth Carrie is looking for. Problem is she loves nice things and her respectability is compromised when thinking Hurstwood unmarried chooses him. Jennifer Jones is marvelous going from a poor young, innocent girl with an education but it's her looks that help her along. Eddie Albert is fine as the self assured drummer who wins her over with his charm. I also picked up on the "green acres" bit. It's Olivier who steals the film, going from a respectable gentleman to a tragic figure who holds onto his dignity to the end. For all you romantics see this film. It's fifty years old and Olivier and Jones can still burn up the screen.

At a time when many cineasts are beginning to respond to the beauties of Powell and Pressburger's "Gone to Earth", Wyler's "Carrie", that other most underrated masterpiece, continues to attract too little appreciative attention. It is not difficult to see why insofar that its depressing subject material is incompatible with audience expectations of its genre, Hollywood studio romanticism. It has a hero who slides into despair and degradation whilst the heroine succeeds in her chosen profession as an aspiring actress. Women who take their handkerchiefs to the cinema have always seemed indifferent to the film: indeed the only admirers I have personally found have been male, possibly identifying with the debonaire restaurateur, Hurstwood (magnificently played by Laurence Olivier), sowing the seeds of his downfall through human weakness which destroys everything except his innate dignity. Had the film been set in its own period (mid 20th century) and directed by, say, a De Sica or Kurosawa, we might still be talking about it. Instead it is set shortly after the beginning of the century, a transitional period when the romantic past was rapidly being overcome by the grainy realism of a new mechanised age. However, far from being weakened by the genre conventions of a highly romantic approach,the superbly crafted direction by William Wyler, photography perfectly composed by Victor Milner and a wonderfully lyrical score by David Raksin are elements that serve to enhance the material. They never sentimentalise it, somehow proving that when as here the Hollywood romantic cinema was given a really mature theme and text, it could, in the hands of some of its greatest craftsmen, be responsible for producing a work of the highest cinematic art.

Melodrama had come a long way between the thirties austere black and white Stahl tear-jerkers to the fifties flaming Sirk extravaganzas ,which were often remakes of the first director's works ( "when tomorrow comes" "imitation of life" "magnificent obsession")

At the beginning of the fifties ,Wyler -who had already approached melodrama ("Mrs Minniver","little foxes" and even elements of his admirable "best years of our lives) opted for full bore weepie,the "enough is enough" genre and thus anticipated on the great maudlin movies of the fifties which was another golden era for the style,not only Douglas Sirk but also Minelli,Cukor,Dmytryk ,King... Jennifer Jones ,the romantic actress par excellence ,is the bridge between the two eras:she has nothing to do with Irene Dunne or Margaret Sullavan because she's primarily an intuitive:her face is constantly longing for the love which ceaselessly eludes her :no actress succeeded as she did as far romantic passion is concerned ("duel in the sun" "madame Bovary" "Ruby Gentry" are good examples).

And yet,despite the title,the plot focuses on Olivier's character.the great thespian is very moving,going from riches to rag with equal command.The plot encompasses everything that makes a melodrama a delight for afficionados of the genre.Olivier's downfall is almost realist -and sometimes recalls Murnau's "der Letzte Mann" (1924).Wyler depicts his plight and humiliation in lavish detail .That's strange,because ,generally ,man is spared in melodramas .

The legendary depth of field you can find in any Wyler movie is used with great results in the scenes when Carrie comes for the first time in the luxury restaurant where she's invited.

This filming of Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie focuses more on Laurence Olivier's character of George Hurstwood more than on the title character that Jennifer Jones portrays. In the novel, Carrie is not quite as good a girl as Jennifer portrays her. But that is probably due to 1950s conventions and David O. Selznick's svengali-like influence on his wife's career.

It's not a film that ranks high with Olivier fans. In fact he did it to keep himself busy while current wife Vivien Leigh was doing A Streetcar Named Desire. But his portrayal of George Hurstwood may rank as the most tragic character Olivier ever brought to the screen.

Poor Hurstwood. On the outside a most respectable individual, good job wife and two kids, money in the bank. He's the manager of a fancy Chicago eatery named Fitzgerald's. And one day accompanied by Eddie Albert, walks Jennifer Jones into his place and he flips for her.

Carrie's a young girl from the farm gone to Chicago to seek life. But women were rather restricted in their employment and their options for living. She runs up against Victorian morality which was what Dresier was really writing about in his book. To today's audiences those conventions seem ridiculous, but William Wyler does do a good job in portraying the era.

He also does another clever thing in the film. Mary Murphy has a brief part as Olivier's daughter. She bears a striking resemblance to Jennifer Jones. She has a couple of lines of inconsequential dialog with Olivier, but your image of her stays throughout the film and you understand why Olivier tumbles for Jones. Freud would approve.

Kudos also for Miriam Hopkins who plays Mrs. Hurstwood. She's a vindicative shrew in this film, but she's also a wronged party and Hopkins does convey a fine balance in her portrayal.

Eddie Albert is also a wronged party. Jones meets him on the train to Chicago and he falls for her also. Due to circumstances in the film, she has to accept his hospitality. Albert also falls for her big time, but she can't see him when Olivier's around.

There is also a nice bit by Ray Teal as an insurance investigator. I can't tell you about him without giving some of the plot away, but he's a very cynical fellow and kind of gives both Jones and Olivier a reality check.

It's a nicely done film, fans of the stars will love it.

Olivier and Albert certainly play supporting roles in this terrific William Wyler flick, but as in the Dreiser novel, Jones/Carrie is the star. Is she really evil incarnate, or is she lied to and corrupted by two men who both claim to love her? Does she take care of herself at their expense, or does she sell herself to them out of necessity? These men make a bargain from which both men derive benefits that in 1890, they would not be entitled to unless they deceived and took advantage of Carrie. The scene from the original filming that has been included in the DVD release helps clarify Carrie's motives. She is certainly guilty, but not evil incarnate. But the first wife is much worse, far more grasping, self-serving, and vicious than Carrie.

Jones is good here, but Olivier is amazing.