La dame de pique

A title such as this makes my tedious task of recording and editing movies off TV worthwhile, for where else would I have gotten the opportunity to check out and own a copy of this very fine but clearly overlooked rendition of the classic Pushkin story? The production values are truly lavish here, and the film generally elicits comparison – down to its haunting quality – with Robert Enrico's contemporaneous adaptations of Ambrose Bierce's and Henry James' eerie tales. While I still prefer Thorold Dickinson's 1949 British version, this one obviously improves on the recently-viewed 1916 effort; that said, I do not recall the former well enough to make sensible comparisons narrative-wise! I do know, however (and since I have not read the original source, I cannot tell either which is truer to it!), that the Countess emerges as the protagonist this time around, rather than the luckless officer attempting to extract the secret of winning at cards from her (in fact, she divulges the three-card combination to two others persons before he even enters proceedings and, later, one other tries to make him talk)! With this in mind, the central character is played by the only familiar face among the cast i.e. a gracefully aged Dita Parlo from Jean Vigo's L'ATALANTE (1934) and Jean Renoir's LA GRANDE ILLUSION (1937) in her last film. As I said, the end result is supremely stylish (mostly filmed in sprawling chateaux and with the figure, who turns up from time to time to remind the Countess of their unholy pact, simply but effectively shot from high angles to suggest his supernatural aura) and, underscored by the music of Franz Schubert, extremely evocative. The ending, in which a spectral card game (comprising all the major players) dissolves to the same location being 'invaded' by modern-day amenities, is a nice touch.

This is the second effort by Leonard Keigel and there is no doubt about it:he was to become a true auteur ;he had found a niche which was neither "old school" nor "nouvelle vague" ;both this movie and the remarkable "Léviathan" (1961)were written by novelist Julien Green (the latter was based on one of his works)

With an extraordinary economy of means (actually lack of means for the budget was rather low ),he creates an eerie atmosphere ,playing with light and shadows like a painter ,and using mirror with startling effects (the first picture is a reflection of the countess;shots of Lisa look like portraits); a North wind is enough to make us believe we are in Russia .

Keigel effortlessly beats previous versions such as Fedor Ozep's -who was Russian at that!- 1937 film starring Pierre Blanchar and Marguerite Moreno. Dita Parlo, who was young in Vigo's and Renoir's days , saw her career run into difficulties after the war ;only three films,a short appearance in Cayatte's "Justice Est Faite " notably."La Dame De Pique" is her renaissance even though it went unnoticed by the audience :relatively speaking,it compares favorably with Gloria Swanson's sensational come back in "sunset blvd" ;Parlo gives a stunning performance :she has mystery,irony and authority going for her ;her co-star ,Michel Subor ,is known for Godard's "Le Petit Soldat" and a supporting part in Hitchcock's "topaz" ;he has few scenes with Parlo ,who would blow him off the screen every time she appears anyway ; also starring Simone Bach,Keigel's wife , in the part of the sad Lisa .

"Leviathan" was a story of monsterS,sometimes close to fantasy and horror genre ;Keigel makes his queen of spades a Gothic tale,verging on supernatural:even though he uses an uncanny epilogue,at the tables ,in the whole story, the players always look like waxwork dummies ,even in the real world.And the final sequence ,a surprising anachronism ,is not really one:the die is not cast , gamblers keep on playing for eternity.

One of the officers says it would take a whole life to try all the "combinations " to find the winning formula (the three cards you've got to play);mathematically it's in fact an arrangement for order does count.In a 52- card deck ,there are 132.600 ways...

To write that "Léviathan " and "La Dame De Pique " are musts for anyone interested in the French cinema is to state the obvious ;unfortunately they were to be Keigel's only worthwhile movies;after TV series ,"Les Atomistes" ,he directed "Qui ",a poor man's Hitchcock flick and "Une Femme Un Jour ",an unconvincing plea for female homosexuality;too bad he fell so quickly after his golden start with both Green screenplays .