Lac aux dames

Jean-Pierre Aumont was the Jeune Premier (romantic male young lead) of the thirties ,at a time the young actors were not necessarily at the top of the bill;most of the great works of that era featured experimented actors such as Harry Baur,Louis Jouvet,Michel Simon,Erich Von Stroheim (here present in a supporting part)...even Jean Gabin was in his thirties when he hit the big time in Julien Duvivier's films.It was not surprising Aumont was eclipsed by Louis Jouvet in "Hotel du Nord" (as his co-star Annabella was by Arletty).

Jean-Pierre Aumont portrays a lifeguard in "ladies lake".All the girls around are crazy about him.But he is a naive engineer on the dole who has given the plans of his invention to a shady man.And he's been waiting for his answer for one year.In the meanwhile,he falls in love with a rich man's daughter (Michel Simon/Rosine Derean);but across the lake,there lives a young girl (Simone Simon ,the future star of "La Bete Humaine" and "Cat people" );and in the hotel where he works,another one ,a blonde who appears topless in a bed-for that matter the film was ahead of its time;one wonders why the censorship did not ban it.The screenplay is not very satisfying,but the cinematography is pleasant with nice shots of the ladies lake.

Jean-Pierre Aumont has women troubles. He's a poor engineer who has taken a job as a swimming instructor at a mountain resort. Rosine Deréan and he are in love, but her father is Michel Simon in a foul mood. Simone Simon, playing a decade younger than her 24 years (and doing so very convincingly) is in love with him, and her father, Vladimir Sokoloff doesn't approve. Former lover and confidence trickster Illa Meery shows up and seeks topless refuge with him. Finally, Maroulka, a waitress at a local gasthaus loves him too, but her boss is tired of giving him free meals. And they're all jealous of each other.

It's well directed by Marc Allegret from a novel by Vicki Baum, with additional dialogue by Collette, so everything is in place for a rousing commercial success. There are some beautiful compositions on the lake, but it feels like all of the subtext of the novel has been lost and replaced by competent execution of the plot by the beautiful people involved. It's full of fine scenes that don't seem to add much to the narrative except for the sense that it's a pity that these beautiful people are so darned stupid they can't do anything right. It remains highly watchable throughout, but it's far shallower than the lake it's set on.

Marc Allegret was a fine director, and in this film most certainly a poet as well. The poetry of images is not often seen by those who look for plot and excitement, and in ' Lac Aux Dames ' ( so much better than the English title ) there are many of them. The film takes place in what seems to be Austria, by a lake and the seasons of the year are filmed with delicacy and a lightness of touch still not often achieved in our current sensationalist cinema. The fall of rain on water, the small island in the lake and the mist on the mountains; and Allegret lingers on all this watching the passing of time as we all do. At first the Summer seems to last forever, but then the melancholy of Autumn sets in, followed by the cold. A young man arrives at the lake, poor and very young, and women are attracted to him. He teaches the women to swim, and he falls in love with one of them. But there is another very young woman across the lake played by the great Simone Simon and complictions begin which almost end in tragedy. The film is romantic in the best sense of the word, finely written by Colette with music by George Auric which adds to the atmosphere of longing to live, and longing to die because of love. It is no way a superficial film and as George Painter, in his book on Andre Gide ( who Marc Allegret had a relationship with ) aptly says about ' Lac Aux Dames '- " Exquisite and Haunting ". Succinctly said from a man who was an authority on Proust and Gide, and I certainly believe him.