J'ai épousé une ombre

I saw this film during its original theatrical release, and it haunted me for years. I searched it out constantly, but only recently has it appeared on video. The original version, in French, is terrific: moody, sexy, and moving. The dubbed version is tacky; the trite language is reminiscent of a fifties, English-dubbed Japanese monster movie. If you have seen only the dubbed version, get the original. You'll be happily surprised. A real treat, seeing this film so many years after it was made, is the appearance, very prominently, of the Gipsy Kings. I don't know if they were popular in Europe in 1982, but they were unknown here.

This one may be the worst of all Irish's (Cornell Woolrich's) adaptation for the screen.Not because they have transposed the action from California to the vineyards of Bordeaux,but because they totally betrayed the novel.Robin Davis ,a thoroughly faceless director, could not render Irish's doomed atmosphere to the slightest extent.The dialogue is mean,poor,repetitive,Richard Boringer,the villain,is reduced to repeat almost the same lines three times.The conclusion becomes an happy end,forgetting the terrible final lines of the novel,something like:"We've lost.That's all I know.We've lost.And now the game is over." Irish's tragic tale of fatality is turned into a soap opera .Natalie Baye could have been the character,had she found the adequate team. The only comedian on the screen who generates some emotion is veteran Madeleine Robinson.This was a blockbuster in France,but ,alas, almost nobody read the book.Do it,and avoid this bland movie.

NB :A new adaptation ,"Mrs Winterbourne" (1996) ,is worse.The best,by far ,is Mitchell Leisen's "No man of her own" starring Barbara Stanwyck.

Nathalie Baye plays the fiancée of a bully (Richard Bohringer in one of his trademark creepy bad guy roles). She is suddenly given the opportunity to start a new life by assuming the identity of a dead woman, and she takes it. But of course it's not going to be that easy...

The choice of Nathalie Baye as the lead is important for the tone of the film. With another actress, say Isabelle Adjani, we would be in completely different territory, questioning the heroine's motives as she settles into her new and immensely wealthy "family". But Baye has such a guileless sweetness, you find yourself rooting for her even when she's sticking a knife in someone's chest. Francis Huster is well cast, too, as the romantic lead whose ambiguous behaviour (has he guessed her secret?) fuels much of the suspense during the middle section of the film.

Despite the corny plot and the melodramatic elements, the film has a very satisfying pace and mood (enhanced by the lovely soundtrack and the glorious Bordeaux setting). It may be a disappointment to fans of the much darker novel but, as Robin Davis explains in his DVD commentary, it was never his intention to make a faithful adaptation or a typical noir thriller. He changed the story because he cared too much about the characters to abandon them without hope.

This film is based on an American Novel and was made in France. Whilst French Cinema was good on crime thriller films amongst others, they don't know how to make romantic films like the Americans ! If the same subject had been dealt with by an American cinematographer, the result would have been better. That said, I enjoyed this film because of its nice theme music, the beautiful Nathalie Baye, the rolling Medoc countryside and the pure kindness of Guy Tréjean. I also like Véronique Genest and Madeleine Robinson. Bohringer is another kettle of fish so to speak by there again he has a dirty role. Probably unknown outside France, the world won't come to an end if you don't get round to seeing this one !!!

Here we have a rare genre mix, Thriller and Romance - and I'm not talking about a Thriller with a love interest, or a Romance with a thrilling element. The film is genuinely both.

Nathalie Baye is excellent in the lead as the pregnant woman who survives a train crash and is mistaken for somebody else. She has good reasons to go along with this charade and part of the plot develops delightfully in the While You Were Sleeping mode. Baye's past is coming to haunt her though, giving the film an extra hard edge.

In some sense it's the kind of film US television companies would like to make but always fail.