Monpti, um Amor de Paris

When I was seventeen years young - or old if you like - a lot of things were complete secrets in our home. Twelve children and a serious but very Catholic father was married with a clever and soft mother. The two of them had to take care of seven sisters and five brothers. My father was allowed to read the fist translation of the Bible in a Roman Catholic translation. That was new in the Roman Catholic world.

The four books were well translated, nicely edited and professionally published by the Petrus Canisius Foundation. One evening I went to a cinema and saw the amazing movie 'Monpti' (French for Mon Petit that in fact should be 'Mapetite' for a girl like Romy Schneider.

The author of the original book was Gabor von Vaszary who wrote it in German although he was a born Hungarian. The soft and one of the best German film-directors, Helmuth Kaütner, made a fine film with no nonsense but a lot of simple and - only economically - cheap. I have wondered if it is possible to make a new version with the same respect for youngsters who take life serious but make it a joy because real love has that power... joy in life.

The best friend of my father was a Member of the Dutch Parliament. He understood my hidden attack on the extremely severe rules of the Church. And strangely enough: he defended my thesis on the strict rules of the Institution. We had a good chat that opened to me the door to life as it is and not as it should be organized by a world strange religious Institution. About a year ago I read von Vaszary's book and was flabbergasted about the language of Kaütner's movie en von Vaszary's text.

Romy Schneider and Horst Buchholz had teamed up the year before in "Robinson Soll nicht sterben" which dealt with Daniel Defoe's childhood.They were Germany's then biggest stars ,particularly Romy who grew in popularity in the wake of the Sissi saga.

Horst Buchholz had also been the hero of the German version of Julien Duvivier's "Marianne de Ma Jeunesse" and Helmut Kautner was certainly influenced by the French director whose "Sous le Ciel de Paris" (and other movies)revolved around the whims of fate ,with a voice over and lots of pessimism.Actually it was the first time Schneider had left the schmaltzy stuff and a French critic wrote that "Monpti" was the movie which explained her further evolution.It was not yet Welles or Visconti but it was a step in the right direction.

Filmed on location in Paris ,it often takes place in the Luxembourg gardens in the Latin Quarter.

This film could be a real gem if it would not be a fake; it is largely sustained by the great performance of the 2 actors, also there is a pleasant and fortunate choice of characters around them, the screen play has wonderful passages but ... the whole is incredibly wasted under a ton of moralistic non sense mainly anti sexual: the lovers go around spending their passion in thousands of kisses but never are able to complete it with what you are expecting they must do; instead here is the punishment; after the last stupid, unbelievable and meaningless misunderstanding the girl run away and is knocked down by a car; he visits her at the hospital all seems OK but when he comes again the doctor says she is dead; what do you expect him to do, perhaps bursting into tears? Not at all, he's chilly, calm and serene as it was exactly what he was hoping from the romance. Pure Christian style: the woman who thinks to sex dies.

The German cinema had her glory days with the German Expressionism of the '20s and '30s and became relevant again not earlier than with the "Neue Deutsche Welle" in the '70s. At least that is the general opinion in film history. In my opinion there were also made worthwhile films in the meantime. In this respect I have a guilty pleasure for the films of Helmut Käutner and Wolfgang Staudte. Maybe not all of them classics but pleasant entertainment nevertheless.

"Montpi" (abbreviation for "Mon Petit") is no exception.

Special attraction are the lead actors, who were still at the beginning of their careers.

Horst Buchholz would become, at least for my generation, synonymous with inspector Derrick form the TV series in later years.

Romy Schneider is in "Montpi" not so demure as in the "Sissi" trilogy (1955, 1956, 1957, Ernst Marischka) but certainly not so worldly and cynical as in "La piscine" (1969, Jacques Deray). In fact she is beautiful and for 1957 standards very sexy.

At the beginning of the movie Buchholz plays a very clumsy boy. For a moment I was afraid of a slapstick kind of movie like "They're a weird mob" (1966, Michael Powell), the film I saw before this one and that disappointed me very much. Happily this phase doesn't last very long. At the end of the film you even wish for a more happy ending.

In between the film is a very pleasant romance. Paris is portrayed as it often is in films of the '50s: the romantic capital created for young people who live in shabby attics but are lucky in love. See for example also the opening scene of "An American in Paris" (1951, Vincente Minnelli).

As comic counterpoint to the Buchholz / Schneider romantic couple there is also a rich, bored and cheating couple.

In the appartment building of the Buchholz character we see various little sideplots through the windows of his neighbours. A feauture Käutner has copied from "Rear window" (1954, Alfred Hitchcock).

Well Paris especially is known for being the city of love .. and I reckon in this case also the city of young beautiful people trying to impress each other - not always with the truth mind you. Romy Schneider is best known for her role as Sissi - obviously she has done way more movies, this being another one. She was quite beautiful - and her partner (in lying?) crime is Horst Buchholz, whom I know from the Magnificent Seven movie.

Now I don't think this little movie that could will be seen by many people and maybe it will play more of fans of one or both of those actors. But it is nicely told and the story does make sense overall. Hurdles sometimes are a bit .. well self inflicted, but the chemistry of both leads is there and can be felt. This may or may not be your cup of tea - it is a decent movie/drama/love story for sure.