Le parfum d'Yvonne

1958 and the summer of secrets haunt Victor as his memories dwell into the lustful past of Yvonne's passion. They are accompanied by the eccentric gay Doctor and all together they hide secrets. Director Leconte never reveals in detail the meaning of their secrets but hints on them, allowing the viewer to work that little bit harder. The main interest is the sexual passion the camera has with beautiful Yvonne, a woman of leisure that distracts Victor and the viewer.

'"Le Parfum d'Yvonne", it's famous, every one knows it.' A then 23-year-old Swiss girl told me very excitedly when we so by chance stayed in the same drab pension at the Moslem Quarter in Old Jerusalem City in Jerusalem, Israel. That was 1994 and so I watched this movie in Vevey when I went to visit her later in 1995. Yes, entertaining and erotic to some extent. Changes from the original book are largely on the age of the characters like Victor is 18 in the book but a 30+ in the movie.

Its attractions are apparent: 1) Switzerland is famous for its natural beauty 2) young pretty sexy starlet who dares to undress in a sensuous way. She once takes off her brief panties at the pier of Lake Geneva and gives it to Victor as a gift 3) the story is told in flashback, perhaps in the early 60's where the actual incident takes place in 1958, nostalgia is always a hit to Europeans 4) tantalizing and sensuous love scene between Yvonne and Victor 5) the mysteries of Yvonne, Victor and homosexual Dr. Rene Meinthe, their own personal stories are not known at all 6) they meet at the hall/foyer of a hotel, a dream place of men and women to meet their romance or love, immediately they start their romance in such a beautiful place 7) Unreal is the word for the atmosphere, it is a dream, Yvonne is a big secret herself, she is unreal, hard to get hold of 8) Nice music, I especially remember the older man who sings "Sa Jeunesse" in dark voice.

All these are effective elements for a blockbuster movie. To me, it's a past-time entertainment without much to tell. So pitiful that Sandra Majani did not do any more filming after this one, she is really a sweet girl.

Patrice Leconte is one of my favorite director. Although this film is not one of his best, it's still worth watching. It's burning with sensuality. Great characters: from the eccentric doctor René to the Marmaduke look-a-like dog. Good performances by Marielle, Girardot and Majani. Too bad it's her only film. This movie tells the story about two persons in love. But love, as every true movie fan will know, is not always the easiest thing. Verdict: not the best Leconte, but a very enjoyable way to spend 89 minutes.

Seen at home, in Toronto, on September 20th, 2005.

76/100 (**½)

Adaptation of a novel by Patrick Modiano, "le parfum d'Yvonne" represents another Patrice Leconte's success. To make this film, the director drew from several elements dating from his previous movies. Thus, the doctor Meinthe (excellent Jean-Pierre Marielle) is very close to Michel Mortez in "Tandem" (1987) while Yvonne's sensual beauty evokes Mathilde's in "the hairdresser's wife" (1990). So, Leconte turned a novel into a personal movie.

This movie tells a past love story that brings on a deep nostalgia due to gorgeous summer pictures enhanced by a luminous photography. It's almost a poetic and dreamlike work. And however, this happiness is too good to be true. Indeed, behind this idle and free life, hide zones of shadows. Victor Chmara claims to Yvonne that he is a wealthy Russian earl but he's nothing of the sort. He's just a young man who fled Paris so as to avoid his military enlistment (we are in 1958 and at this time, it is the Algerian war). Moreover, he wants to go to the USA but Yvonne refuses because Victor can't speak English. So, she leaves him and there's this famous sentence that says: love stories, in general don't have a happy ending. It is true.

Leconte built his movie on a long flashback and he alternates the story with two of the main characters' current situation. From this moment, we can take down a strong contrast between the shiny pictures of a celebrated and distant summer and the dark photography to connote a dull present that shows the main characters' distress and bitterness (especially the doctor Meinthe).

A beautiful and bitter movie. If you are a fan of Patrice Leconte, don't miss this one.

A bad film also merits proper attention as it can help critics and viewers to ascertain what went wrong during the making of a particular film.This is also true for French film "Le Parfum d'Yvonne" which remains one of those horribly bad films which deserves to be seen as it has been directed by a famous director.For this film Patrice Leconte loses artistic control on many occasions as he leaves a lot of questions unanswered.The entire film is nicely shot and depiction of fun loving idlers is authentic yet this film fails to captivate audiences.This is the reason why most of the viewers will have a hard time figuring out what this film was trying to convey.It appears that viewers might complain that very less background information has been provided to enable them to comprehend what the film was all about. Despite its inherent shortcomings "Le Parfum d'Yvonne" is a film whose established actors Hipployte Girardot and Jean Pierre Marielle have done immense justice to their roles.However,it is really a pity that nothing much is known about Dutch actress Sandra Majani who shines throughout the film.Her sensual performance is extraordinary as it helps this film to be enjoyed only for its visual erotic undercurrents.