La grande peccatrice

Jacques Demy's "Bay Of Angels" may be the best movie ever made about compulsive gambling, along with the appropriately titled "The Gambler" (1974). It's not "realistic" in its technicalities (winning three consecutive times by betting on a single roulette number happens ONLY in the movies), but I don't think it wants to be; what it's trying to get at is the psychology of gambling, and at that it succeeds (in fact, it shows two different "types" of players: the wetting-his-feet and the full addict). This movie, which offers a rare view of the high and low life in and around the Nice and Monte Carlo casinos circa 1963, has the immediacy and spontaneity that the French New Wave often strived for, minus any of the pretentiousness (just compare it with Godard's not dissimilar "Pierrot Le Fou"). Jeanne Moreau sports an iconic look and plays a daringly flawed female character; the much lesser-known internationally Claude Mann is also very good. It's a minor classic. ***1/2 out of 4.

Boy, take Demy away from musicals and he becomes one rather somber director, huh? In other words, I disagree with the previous reviewer, theognis 80821, who described this very bleak study of two chronic gamblers as "fun". In fact, it's so un fun that I sedulously did not buy the tacked on happy ending when Jeanne Moreau's walking ad for gamblers anonymous suddenly and inexplicably decides to renounce roulette for stolid Claude Mann (who may look like Belmondo but does not resemble his acting).

However, until that cloying last scene Demy does not hit a false note as he relentlessly chronicles the toll this insidious addiction takes on a woman of intelligence and sensitivity to the point where husband and child are tragically renounced for momentary highs at expensive and tawdry casinos. And Moreau's great performance ensures that you experience the full ugliness of it. Give it a B plus which would have been higher without that sappy ending and a different actor in the lead opposite Ms. Moreau.

First a note of interest: Jeanne Moreau is in the movie, and she's the star, of course, but she's also a blonde here. Usually, from what I can remember from say The Lovers or La Notte or Jules & Jim it's dark or at least brunette. I wonder if she was already blonde at the time or if it was a deliberate and specific choice on director Jacques Demy's end. Because, somehow, it does add something extra to the character. When we first see her on screen she's being 'escorted' (kind word for kicked out) of a casino that Jean and Caron are at to start gambling, and it's a big scene where we see her arguing and stomping her feet and we barely see her face, just a fury of big blonde hair and attitude to match. It's not exactly the same cool presence one saw in some of Moreau's other big films of the period - and yet when we see her again she is lovely and with that face that charms immediately upon the smile, and makes one feel the gloom of after hours when looking serious.

Bay of Angels is a movie that works best when Demy focuses his theme on escapism, what would appear to be at first a film for escapists, about people going off to rich places like Monte Carlo and gambling away the life savings and having a great time in expensive suits and drinking champagne. But it's also about the nature of this escapism, the danger of it. It's predictable to see that Jean, who comes from a family where gambling is incredibly frowned upon, and Jackie, who at one point confesses that going into a casino is like going into Church, will lose a lot of money, maybe all of it, and keep going in dire straits throughout. What isn't expected is how Demy interweaves this seemingly endless back and forth of the bottomless pit that is a gambler's life (if only seeming like a lifetime in however few days Jean/Jackie are together) and how touching it becomes against the backdrop of glamour. At the least, his film is about something.

The only problems come with a few scenes in the script that drag - the dialog often works, but sometimes not quite enough to satisfy the emotional purpose of a scene. Maybe also contributing to this is first time actor Claude Mann as Jean. Mann would later be featured in Melville's Army of Shadows, among other notable films, but here he just can't hold his own most of the time alongside such a presence like Moreau. It was wise to cast someone young, and maybe not with the most experience, as this kid who goes on vacation from a small bank-clerk job to try and find himself by way of throwing away hundreds of thousands (albeit I pictured more-so, as the film went on, the actor who played the lead in Pickpocket). But Mann just doesn't really fit in, especially when he has to go into big dramatic scenes (i.e. the outbursts of anger against Jackie in the hotel rooms).

And yet Bay of Angels displays a director with an intuition with the camera, a grace and style, and a dazzling sense of music, precisely repetitive, over the shots of the roulette table spinning around and the faces dissolving in and out with it. There are beautiful moments, and it's hard not to take eyes ever off of Moreau, one of those actresses who keeps working today into her late 70s going on 80s but whom one thinks of in black and white only. She had/has one of the great faces in movies, and she's a damn good actress to boot. 7.5/10

On the one hand, as someone who has never gambled once in her life, this is low-key fascinating as it offers a glimpse into a world unknown to me. On the other hand, ill-advised, habit-forming, and kind of filthy as the vice is, I feel unclean even watching, like I may as well be watching people live in perpetual clouds of cigarette smoke and brush their teeth with nicotine. And on still another hand, 'La baie des anges,' or 'Bay of angels,' initially comes off as so direct - protagonist Jean's whole outlook changes after the very first time that he plays roulette - that the picture almost recalls exploitation flicks like 1936's 'Reefer madness' or 1954's 'Girl gang'; you know, the type of feature that posits a single puff of marijuana leads immediately to hard drugs and violent crime. Of course, it may be just as true that this is simply a drama that happens to center gambling, though I don't think the alternate perspectives are ameliorated by the fact that Jeanne Moreau, only 35 years old at the time this was released, is made to look significantly older in 1963 than she did in features released just before or even a few years after this. In any case, the movie is fantastically well made all around, and solidly engaging.

I don't know what is more rich and flavorful about this: Jacques Demy's direction, Jean Rabier's cinematography, Anne-Marie Cotret's editing, or Michel Legrand's original music. There's a smart dexterity to each of these facets that comes off as lightheartedness as they shape the film, and I wonder if they aren't the chief highlights above even the storytelling. With that said, Demy penned an engrossing narrative as Jean gets completely sucked into the gambling lifestyle alongside hopeless addict Jackie. The scene writing and dialogue is superb, and rather entrancing as the tale progresses. Above all, the two chief characters are complicated and intriguing in their shared ordeal, and the real focal point of both the writing and the picture as a whole. Jean and Jackie's personalities, and they way they're lit on fire by gambling, are the primary fuel for the proceedings, and I could stand for 'La baie des anges' to be longer than it is just on their account. To that same point, Claude Mann and especially Moreau give excellent performances befitting the variable dynamics of that central relationship and all that the pair go through, and it's a real pleasure as a viewer just to watch them ply their trade.

I can't say that this is perfect, as the ending is a tad too curt for my tastes, not to mention overly neat and clean; the cinematic journey isn't as entirely satisfying as it could have been if the destination weren't so close to where we began. Even setting that aside, for as well made as this is, there's no singular stroke of brilliance at any point, and the feature is never so captivating (let alone impactful) as to demand viewership. Yet for however much one may him and haw about the particulars, by and large this remains an enjoyable, very worthwhile viewing experience. It's a fine credit to all involved, including those behind the scenes, and ultimately a classic that deserves remembrance and recognition. I don't think there's any need to go out of one's way for it, but whether one is a big fan of someone involved or just looking for a good movie, as far as I'm concerned 'La baie des anges' is well worth checking out.

This film enters with a spectacular high speed tracking shot matched by the hyper circular theme song by Michelle Legrand that sounds both like spinning and falling, and which does indeed represent both the spinning of the roulette wheel and falling in love.

Here we have the side of Jeanne Moreau I don't care for, posey, game playing and artificial... the kind of woman men like and women hate... and that made her perfect in this role. (And her performance her is Infinitely BETTER than in EVA, same type role.) What I like a lot about her casting here is that she looks quite a bit like Marilyn Monroe, but is as different internally as anyone can possibly be - which a lot of the world was doing at this time, being bad Marilyn Monroe wannabees. I love that the platinum hair makes her look much more harsh, older, and very false, and that is, of course, the essence of the character. And this film is mainly a character study, with little story and little explanation.

Our leading man is the young naive everyman sucked into her world in all respects. We feel for his every bad decision, and this is a true and real representation of both the allure and the tawdriness of the gambling world.

Without giving anything away, the ending feels contrived, but in this time period, films wanted "endings"... today a truer ending would just go on spinning like the roulette wheel. Michel Legrand's score is great. Like many of Demy's films, this is a dark story of the current day told with musicality and attention to the games we play with ourselves.