lreynaert

This film is an adaptation of a novel by the aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It is an ode to the pioneers of aviation who are risking risk their lives to help humanity with mail services all over the world. The hero here is contacted by a childhood friend who has an unhappy marriage with a domineering and cold husband. She leaves her husband with her pilot, but he is called back for a dangerous mission: a colleague had an accident in the middle of the African desert infested by armed Bedouin rebels.

The script bathes in an overall atmosphere of paternalism and colonialism. The desert images are fantastic.

Some well-known names in the credits : Robert Bresson, Robert Lefebvre, Françoise Giroud, Jacques Ibert.

Excellent interpretation by Charles Vanel and others.

Pierre Billon is an underestimated director (see his film "Vautrin").

This film is an excellent adaptation of Balzac's masterpieces, 'Lost Illusions' (the last part) and 'The splendors and miseries of courtesans'.

Vautrin, alias Carlos Herrera, is a convict on the run, who disguises himself as a Spanish diplomat (Carlos Herrera) after the latter is killed by his traveling companion, Calvi ('an aunt').

Vautrin sees in Lucien Chardon (de Rubempré), whom he saved from suicide, an alter-ego and an opportunity to redeem himself from the abject life he led. He wants Lucien to marry a member of the nobility. But therefore, Lucien must be the owner of an estate; so money is needed. Vautrin tries to extort the necessary sums from a rich banker who is madly in love with Lucien's mistress.

Will Vautrin achieve all his goals?

The film plays on different levels, such as the physical attraction of the 'young leader' on women (the individual), the divide between the classes (society) and money (its power, which gives one the possibility to enter the upper classes).

An astonishing Michel Simon in the role of Vautrin.

This remarkable film is an avalanche of violence.

First, we see a merciless fight between good (the Virgin Mary) and evil (the robot-woman Mary); then, socio-economic violence between the haves and have-nots, between the plebeians and the privileged; moreover, technological violence is there to dominate the population and, finally, media violence to manipulate the minds and the behavior of the inhabitants.

This film is a technical masterpiece. The editing creates a perfect fusion between image and music.

The mass scenes are super impressive. The shots of an individual running against the tide of the crowd have been copied in movies all over the world, as have other shots, whether sexually charged, futuristic, or collage (eyes).

The acting style is dated, because often too expressionist. But, the main actress, Brigitte Helm, blows away the rest of the cast. Her sex appeal as the robot Mary is completely overwhelming.

Remains the ultimate question: can the antagonism between good and evil or the conflict between capital and labor be overcome simply 'by the heart'? Isn't that naive, too naive?