In a movie theater where MIDNIGHT DATE, Lilli Palmer's latest film, is being played, a modest-looking spectator intensely experiences the golden ordeal of the heroine, the beautiful and rich Anne, who looks a bit like her. A film critic, Jacques Moreau, who happens to be sitting next to her, follows her when she leaves the theater in tears. Worried, he catches up with her and invites her to a café. Eva has seen the film over and over again and she feels the same loneliness, the same dread of death as Anne.
Roger Leenhardt mainly made shorts;only two feature films ;the first one was "dernières vacances " (1948) in which heartfelt nostalgia was a bit marred by a well-read bourgeois side ;the second one, "le rendez-vous de minuit" was bound to be a flop ; too ahead of its time, too complex , does it deserve to be called a sleeper?
My feelings are mixed: Lili Palmer was certainly a first -class actress and she effortlessly plays two roles convincingly ; coincidence,Michel Auclair had already starred in a "film in the film" movie, Duvivier's marvelous "fête à Henriette " (1952). Roger Leenhardt depicts a strange world where the frontier between cinema and reality becomes blurred. The word "mythomaniac " cannot be applied to a character whose life hangs by a thread ;even more bizarre is the bawdy songs contest ;another coincidence, Maurice Ronet ,who appears in a supporting part, would be the star of Malle's "le feu follet" (1963) ,depicting the last hours of a suicidal man.
That said , in spite of the talents involved,the film sometimes drags on, and the rapport the heroine 's life has with the fictional one in the movie doesn't always make sense ; interesting but not always convincing.
