Le secret de Mayerling

1982: Empress Zita Von Hapsburg came back in her homeland after a 64 years exile.One of the things which puzzled the journalists in the long interview which was published in Kronen Zeitung in March 1983 is that she revealed that the doomed Mayerling lovers did not commit suicide : they were murdered and the family had always known the truth.The ex-empress did not produce any proofs though.People interested in the subject can read Jean Des Cars's absorbing "Les Secrets de Mayerling" ,a 700+ pages work.

1949:Jean Delannoy tackled the Mayerling tragedy and ,unlike Anatole Litvak's previous version (1936) and Terence Young's (1968) ,he described this mysterious affair as Zita would thirty years later.

Delannoy's work is not necessarily historically accurate though:it seems that a lot of elements of the screenplay were borrowed from countess Larish's dubious memoirs "My past": Mary Vetsera refusing to bow before Empress Stephanie or the political role Larish would have supposed to play( the secret papers,and the code).But the biggest surprise is Franz Ferdinand as Franz Joseph's police headman! It never was.

The film is a long flashback.The tragedy has happened when the movie begins.So this movie is the only one which features the truthful scene of Mary,leaving Mayerling "alive" between her two uncles,and hastily buried in an isolated cemetery.

Delannoy's movie is probably the best of all versions : Rudolph (Jean Marais not as handsome as he generally was ,which makes sense since the Kronprinz was a junkie at the end of his life ) only appears after twenty minutes.The long prologue is filmed in a candle lit atmosphere ,sometimes close to darkness,giving the movie a macabre gloomy feeling .The ghoulish characters seem to come from the great beyond.

Dominique Blanchard (who is best remembered for her supporting part in Antonioni's "L'Avventura" ) is the most credible Mary Vetsera: very childlike,immature,a teenager in love with a rock or screen star ,she's Mary as the historians depict her.

Marguerite Jamois was a stage actress (she was a memorable Antigone in Anouilh's eponymous play)who only made one movie :this one.Jean Cocteau wanted her to play the part of the queen in his " L'Aigle A Deux Tetes" but she turned his offer down and when Edwige Feuillere replaced her ,she regretted her decision.As Cocteau's heroine was inspired by Empress Elizabeth from Austria 's life ,she was happy that Delannoy (who often collaborated with Cocteau) cast her as Sissi in "Le Secret de Mayerling".

"Le Secret de Mayerling" is another successful film by Delannoy whose reputation was forever tarnished by the fusty Cahiers du Cinema and the arrogant fascism of the Nouvelle Vague.Many of his works are still crying to be seen .

NB:In the version which was released on video,seven minutes were cut!this makes the ending incomprehensible .These missing minutes show the killer in a HItchcockesque way,according to reliable historian Jean Des Cars.

2/4/16: yesterday,on canal satellite ,the seven missing minutes were restored and now we can see the director's cut.

This is a darkly atmospheric film with mise-en-scene by Jean Delannoy, cinematography by Robert Lefebvre and production design by Raymond Druart. The claustrophobic nature of Court life is brilliantly captured. Crown Prince Rudolph as portrayed by Jean Marais in one of his best performances, is a far cry from that of Boyer in 1935 and Sharif in 1968. He suggests very subtly the character's psychological instability which we now know was caused either by addiction to morphine, syphilis(Rudolph was notoriously promiscuous) or the mental frailty that ran through the Hapsburg dynasty. Perhaps it was a combination! He appears to love Marie Vetsera, sympathetically portrayed by Dominique Blanchar (daughter of Pierre) but does he have an ulterior motive? The supporting cast is first class. Sylvia Montfort, one of her generation's finest tragediennes, is fascinating in a smaller role as Stephanie and there is a lovely performance as Countess Marie by an actress who appeared under many pseudonyms including Monika Burg and Paulette Keller but here is billed as Claude Farell. Her character has probably at one time been a mistress of Rudolph's but has now taken on the role of his procuress! Jeanne Marken very good as Marie Vetsera's mother and stalwart Jean Debucourt adds dignitas as Emperor Franz Joseph. What about the ending?! Well, there have been so many theories, some pausible, some outlandish, as to what actually occurred at Mayerling on the night of 30th January 1889, that the ending here might not be as outrageous as would first appear. Best to leave it with the words of Franz Joseph himself:'the truth is far worse than all versions'.