A Sereia do Mississipi

This is one of the best films I've seen in the last years.Belmonndo and Deneuve shine in their respective roles, he as a naive plantation owner and she as an enigmatic trickster.Words won't do this masterpiece justice,suffice it to say that this is a movie that explores the darker side of love and the pain,humiliation and capacity for self-delusion that go with it, although it's dressed as a film noir. Forget that feeble remake with Jolie and Banderas, see the genuine artticle instead and treat yourselves to some moments of great cinematic beauty.

This agreeable French movie deals about a millionaire owner of a tobacco factory on an African island nearly to Madagascar named Louis(Jean Paul Belmondo). He's a single man looking wife, then he advertises a bride and gets a gorgeous woman named Julia(Catherine Deneuve). When she spontaneously appears turns out to be much more attractive than expected. He marries to Julia but she suddenly disappears.A French eye private(Michael Bouquet) is hired by Julia's sister and soon he's on the trail of his previous spouse. Later Louis encounters her in a dancing-hall under another name. In spite of the romantic delusion and everything, Louis goes on enamored with his enigmatic wife.

This film is a splendid drama plenty of betrayal,deception, killing, theft and Hitchcockian suspense. Good performances by Jean Paul Belmondo as young proprietary of a cigarette company who seems determined to fall under the spell of a femme fatale and a wonderful Catherine Deneuve as suspect heroine. The film gets several references to the American cinema, but Truffaut(400 blows) was a fervent moviegoer, such as : Johnny Guitar, Colorado Jim, Bogart, and Hitchcock.The USA version was cut numerous minutes and deserves an urgent restoring and remastering. Loosely based on the novel titled'Waltz into darkness' by Cornell Woolrich (Rear window and screenwriter of Alfred Hitchcock hour) who also was adapted in 'Truffaut's The bride wore black'.Colorful cinematography by Denys Clerval(Stolen kisses) and atmospheric musical score by Antoine Duhamel, Truffaut's usual musician.This is one of the best of his suspense movies along with ¨Farenheit 451 and Shoot the piano player¨. Remade by an inferior version by Michael Christofer(2001) with Antonio Banderas, Angelina Jolie and Jack Thompson, full of erotic and lust scenes.

I have to give Director Truffaut the benefit of the doubt here because he's obviously not stupid. So my best guess is that this strange creation is a sort of tone poem to the power of the femme fatale. That is what Catherine Deneuve plays, and despite being swindled nearly to penury by her, the Jean-Paul Belmondo character keeps coming back for more.

There are a few clichés which come to mind, but "Love is Blind" is ironically the most apt, for it is the irresistible beauty of Deneuve that prevents her mail-order husband from accepting the truth. She lied before, so why not again, and again, and again? Clearly the relationship is doomed, but the illusion continues on for now, strengthened by the sacrifice already made on her behalf...

Francois Truffaut's Mississippi Mermaid is a film I've wanted to see for years. Featuring Catherine Deneuve, Jean - Paul Belmondo and the great director behind the camera himself, well, who wouldn't want to see it? And the first third of the movie, set on Reunion Island, didn't let me down. I've seen plenty of movies in my time, but don't think I've ever seen one set on the French territory in the Indian Ocean. The storyline too, about a tobacco planter who engages a mail order bride is intriguing in a time and place far removed from Tinder. It becomes even more so, when she arrives and he discovers it is not the same woman he expected, but he marries her anyway.

We are gifted some telling footage of the tropical island, a potted colonial history of its relationship with France and an extended amplified soundtrack consisting of a mixture of bird and animal exotic sounds. Unfortunately as we descend deeper into the story Truffaut soon relies on colossal contrivances to propel things along.

Belmondo's character Louis, says early on that he didn't fully reveal facets of himself in early correspondence, so as to sensibly establish some secure boundaries. Yet, it would appear in the film that barely a day or two after getting married, he gives his new wife, (Deneuve playing) Julie, open slather on his personal banking and business accounts. Then after Julie subsequently cleans him out (with no-one in the bank obviously batting an eye - lid) and disappears into the ether, of all the women in the world, he just happens to see her on TV and tracks her down quicker than you can say bloodhound. And narrative wise things don't get any better after both individuals reunite.

Twists occur, but again, they appear out of character and forced. Deneuve, at the height of her beauty, is too chic, cultured and well - spoken to play a supposedly poorly educated and raised grifter. Belmondo, never strikes one as a vengeful suitor, capable of murder. However this is the sort of unbelievable stuff Truffaut expects us to swallow.

Miscast as they are, I can't say I didn't appreciate seeing the 2 charismatic French stars, but I have to sadly reiterate, that in my opinion, things fall rather flat, after the lead characters leave their initial tropical locales. However might I suggest that watching Mississipi Mermaid is a much better venture, than chasing up its far inferior 2001 remake Original Sin, with Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas.

I am surprised that nobody has yet pointed out that the ending in the snow is an homage to Jean Renoir's "Grand Illusion." The film is dedicated at the beginning to Renoir.

Jean Renoir was the great humanist director. For him, all that matters is how we treat human beings. The same here for Truffaut. The film tells us that it does not matter if you're rich or poor, male or female, upholding the law or fighting it, the only thing that matters is love. This is a romantic film that has occasional touches of a good mystery/detective/noir film. The Hitchcock film that it most reminded me of was "Marnie". There, like here, it is hard to know if crime or patient love will win out in the end.

I did not care much for the New Wave style editing, which seemed out of sync with the dramatic story at times. The many shots of Belmondo driving kept reminding me of the beginning of "Breathless." The color seemed a bit dull and washed out.

The locations are lovely, but Truffaut seems to have only one thing on his mind, the relationship between the lead characters, Louis and Juli/Marion. The characters and the audience think they know each other, but the film keeps fooling them and us. We are constantly getting new information that makes us re-evaluate who they are and they are constantly surprising each other. For example, Louis has been telling Juli/Marion how much he loves her and how beautiful she is and then suddenly he gets upset and tells her how there are many of her kind - she is not really a woman or a girl, but a "chick". The term "chick" is far more demeaning here then the term "bitch" or "slut" could ever have been. He tells her that her cold attitude actually makes her ugly. Watching the scene, one thinks about how easily and naturally men can degrade women, even women they love.

The film is a bit long and occasionally meanders, but it is emotionally intense at many points along the way. It seems that nothing is happening and then suddenly there's a surprise that makes you think, "Oh my goodness, I didn't expect that." It may not be one of Truffaut's best films, but second-rate Truffaut is still better than 90% of other directors' best stuff.