Yamilé sous les cèdres

The film begins with an introduction by the book's author, Henry Bordeaux ;his book was famous at the time (the cast and credits read "from the celebrated book of......."),but has fallen into oblivion since ;so has the film.

It is an interesting curiosity which was released about two months before WW2 broke out;A Lebanese Christian woman,Yaminé (a first name which means "beauty ",Bordeaux dixit)-the Maronite Church- falls in love with Osman -bay ,a dashing muslim ;although the girl is engaged to Khalid ,a christian ,a marriage which stems mainly from their families' agreement .The lovers elope ,but the girl's family is not prepared to acced such a misalliance : they kidnap the fiancé;facing the board of gardians ,Yamilé has nothing to say in her defence: her love for Osman is the only thing that matters ,but she affirms she has kept her religion and her faith .....

Long long after this Romeo and Juliet ,a Lebanese Christian female student claims ,that the marriage to a muslim would not be a matter of religion ,but it would raise problems with family and society ;nowadays ,these unions are about 1 or 2%; this old-fashioned movie was not so obsolete...

The movie was filmed on location in Lebanon ,the interior scenes in a studio in Paris .This is the only movie movie by director Charles L'Espinay and he was probably right to call it a day after this single effort :his directing in unimaginative ,and his actors' playing is out of time ;even the great Charles Vanel,future star of the famous "wages of fear" and "diaboliques",does not play his game well ; it takes a lot of imagination to believe that bland virgin Yamilé and Osman are deeply in love ;"love at first sight" during the cedars feast (hence the title),and a single love scene which fails totally to convince ;besides ,Jacques Dumesnil who plays "Romeo " is thirteen years "Juliette"'s senior ,and it shows :how are you going to believe that this almost mature man is still a bachelor ,"without a single woman" as we are told.?

But that a Christian girl elopes with a Muslim Boy (and not the other way about) was not derivative,it deserved a better treatment.

I have been wanting to see that film for more than 20 years and I finally found it in some obscure Russian site and the copy was surprisingly top-notch!

Although a bit dated for today's audience, the film is a delightful reminder of the kind of movies they used to do "back then".

The script is following the book quite well (despite the inevitable cuts in the story)... so much so that, two years after the film release, author Henry Bordeaux actually thanked one-time director Charles d'Espinay by saying: "Yamilé was a true to the novel, for which I remain grateful to you."

It is such a shame that lead actress Denise Bosc did not pursue a career in films! She is lovely and revealed an innate capacity to convey a wide range of emotion in the most natural way, with both her warm voice and highly expressive face. Her performance is a departure from the over-acting often see in pictures from the 1930's.

It is hardly surprising she became one of the most prominent French dubbers in the 40's and 50's, In parallel, she had a very successful career on the stage well into her eighties.

The film was shot on locations in North Lebanon and the film capturing very well the beauty of the scenery.

I highly recommend this film!