Mulher de Meus Sonhos

Style, setting, lighting, and mood are the strong points of this coming of age film, replete with youthful exuberance, faith, yearning and near fairy-tale trappings. However, once you get beyond mood and atmosphere, the film, upon reflection, is quite pedestrian in its plot and dialogue. I first saw this film when I was 12 years old, and it made a major impression on me. I've never seen it screened anywhere else (and I've had serious arguments with very knowledgeable buffs about whether or not it actually existed), and, honestly, I don't know if I ever want to see it again and risk losing that sense of youthful wonder.

I wonder how it would be to watch this movie again. Probably I won't. I'd rather let the mysterious atmosphere of the film that obviously enchanted the other reviewers a bit too, untouched. Somehow funny that whilst I can remember only one particular scene from the movie (and it was a miracle that I even managed to find a title of the movie, since I didn't remember any relevant information about it but the name Marianne), I can still discern my feelings when watching the movie as if it was yesterday. The scene that is there in front of my eyes still very vivid, is the one in which Vincent pursues and eventually catches a deer with his bare hands. A triumphant Young man full of adrenalin and a deer, frightened to death.

In a world as black as Duvivier's,"Marianne de ma jeunesse" seems like an anomaly.This movie was looked upon,for a while, as the film equivalent of Alain-Fournier's "le grand Meaulnes",but as so many movies of the fifties,it was overshadowed by the impending coming for the nouvelle vague.

Hindsight displays its charms.Pierre Vaneck portrays a young romantic high school student,in a remote castle on the misty banks of a lake.Across the lake,there lives a mysterious beautiful woman who seems to be in jeopardy.The atmosphere is dreamy,and the audience sometimes stops and wonders whether the story is a fairy tale or not.Sandwiched,in Duvivier's work,between two very noir films ,"l'affaire Maurizius" ,and "voici le temps des assassins" -which I urge everybody to see if he can-,"Marianne " seems like a truce, a quiet place where the man's soul remains chaste and pure.

The black and white cinematography is close to perfect.

This strange romantic fantasy is entrancing at times, but overall it feels like an elongated Twilight Zone episode, with a vague payoff. There might be some Oedipal (in Vincent's fixation on his - unseen - mother) and homosexual (in Manfred's fixation on Vincent - he never stops singing his praises throughout the movie) implications, but with the censorship restrictions of the era, it's hard to know for sure. Or maybe these things are intentionally left up to the individual interpretation of each viewer. **1/2 out of 4.

This is one of the strangest films I ever saw: Horst Buchholz as a young man from Argentine finds first love in the Bavarian forests! But is his loved one either crazy or a ghost, or is she neither? The aim of the film is to give a very poetic and dreamlike rendering of how the Argentinian (as he is called by his friends) goes through this stage. The strangeness of the film is caused by Duvivier trying hard to achieve this, but most of the times he missing the right tone; he can not sweep the viewer off his feet to accept all he is seeing. There are scenes though that are successful and the best scene (and a very compelling one indeed) is the first encounter between the Argentinian and the girl.

Unavoidably the film heavily relies on poetic symbolism. When the Argentinian first realizes that he is in love, he rushes into the castle accompanied by a storm and heavy rain that shakes the castle. This is still acceptable (but also one of the scenes that should have deserved a better treatment in the direction), but why his love for nature, his natural innocence have to be illustrated by countless deer, is beyond me; this is getting almost satirical. Another aspect of the story that is not elaborated too well, is the presence of the other young girl Liselotte. Okay it is clear that she wants him, but she is never established as a real character, she pops in and out.

Two of the main features of the film and without which the film would probably not have survived are the cinematography and set design that give the most strength to the film. Just look at that openings shot or that extremely well done shot with the Argentinian and the girl in close up and the painting of the girl on the left behind her. Just see how the set designer in his design of the girl's house knew how to convey the dark and tense atmosphere. Music is good too.

The cast has a couple of names who need mentioning. First of course Horst Buchholz in his 2nd feature film; he is good but in his scenes with Marianne Hold (the girl from the castle) he does not stand a change! Until now I knew Marianne Hold only as the eternal virgin in Heimatfilms, but in this film she shows that she was a great actress: whenever she is on screen the complete film is raised a couple of levels in quality and atmosphere. Other noteworthy names (not always for their acting) are: Michael Verhoeven - the later director; Adi Berber - a heavy weight wrestler from Austria here playing a servant who would be very much at home with the Addams Family!; Peter Vogel in one of his first parts.

This is the German language version of a French film with the same name. According to some sources the French language version is better than this one, but alas I can not check. All in all: strange, not always successful, but certainly worth a look. (7/10)