Le portrait de Jennie

The picture starts with two poems of famous writers ¨Who knoeth if to die be but to live..and that called life by mortals be but death?¨ by Euripides and ¨Beauty is truth , truth beauty , that is all ye know on earth and all ye need to know¨ by Keats . When a penniless painter (Joseph Cotten) is walking in N.Y city during the great depression , he meets a mysterious girl named Jennie Appleton (Jennifer Jones) . The otherworldly Jennie inspires to the failed artist , but , previously , he has never been able to encounter the inspiration and now he's painting wonderful paintings . Meanwhile , he meets an old spinster (Ethel Barrymore) and a painting merchant (Cecil Kallaway) . But the strange Jennie disappears and he asks for her at a convent where Mother Mary (Lilian Gish) knew her long time ago .

It is an enjoyable and fantastic romance story where protagonist duo are awesome . The script relies heavily on the relationship between the two starring , but it doesn't cause boring . It's a brilliant romantic tale and though is slow-moving , isn't tiring . Jennifer Jones (producer David O'Selznick's wife) is gorgeous with her sweet and attractive countenance . Joseph Cotten is magnificent as the artist looking for inspiration . Sensitive and stirring score , including an attractive musical leitmotiv by Dimitri Tiomkin , adding music from the classic composer Claude Debussy . Lush black and white cinematography by cameraman Joseph Lawrence and the last part tinted in green and ending image about Jennie portrait in Technicolor . The movie won an Academy Award for especial effects . Besides , being produced by the great producer David O'Selznick (Gone with the wind , Duel in the sun , Third man) . The motion picture was excellently directed by William Dieterle , author of several cinema classics (Hunchback of Notre Dame , Blockade) and autobiography specialist (Juarez , Emile Zola , Reuter , Louis Pasteur , Dr.Erlich) . The movie will appeal to romantic movies fans . Rating : 7.5/10 . Above average.

A bittersweet sense of melancholy permeates this stunning romantic fantasy, a film produced by David Selznick as a cinematic altar to his wife Jennifer Jones.

I adored Jones in Henry King's THE SONG OF BERNADETTE, but I love Jones (almost as much as Joseph Cotten did) in PORTRAIT OF JENNIE.

Cotten is Eben Adams, an artist who meets the enigmatic Jennie (Jones) in Central Park. Their time together is always limited for Jennie is compelled to return home to a place Cotten will never visit.

At first just a sweet schoolgirl, Jennie appears to have aged unnaturally every time she re-appears to Cotten -- eventually, she is old enough to acknowledge Cotten's romantic and carnal intentions towards her.

This unusual, unique studio pic epitomizes "dreamy" for it is exceptionally surreal and photographed in a strange, re-texturized black and white (von Trier's amazing BREAKING THE WAVES used a similar technique to introduce new scenes).

The climax, staged on a storm-swept island, is absolutely beautiful and immensely tragic.

Some have dismissed PORTRAIT OF JENNIE as amounting to nothing more than a series of pretty pictures. I passionately disagree. It is one of the greatest stories of true love ever filmed, and there is nothing false in its intensity or tone (not if you have loved like this).

This movie has quite a lot going for it.

First of all, it is beautifully photographed - at times it looks as though you are watching a portrait moving. The acting is all terrific - Joseph Cotten is perfect as a down-on-his-luck artist who begins by selling a print to Cecil Kellaway and Ethel Barrymore. They encourage him to draw people rather than the still life pictures he'd been doing. He eventually runs into Jennie in Central Park and she intrigues him, to say the least. She mentions places and times that have long passed and sings a song that he cannot forget. The next time he runs into her she's grown up a little, then every time they see one another she'd matured more and more. They normally see each other in Central Park but he does her portrait and its a masterpiece.

Movie is very unconventional for its time - there are no opening credits, the end credits are listed as "The actors are Jennifer Jones, etc., The Supporting Actors are Ethel Barrymore, etc."; a black woman is used as an actual character rather than some sort of domestic; and its not all wrapped up in a pretty bow at the end. It might seem wordy and silly to some, but I really loved it.

I've admired Jennifer Jones since seeing "The Song of Bernadette" as a kid. Aside from that movie and "Beat the Devil", unfortunately I haven't seen a lot of her movies that seemed up to her talent. In this, she is exceptionally good and its not just a showcase for her talents put on screen by David O. Selznick - in reality, she's in it far less than Cotten.

I understand the movie won an Oscar for the special effects, which are good but I didn't need them to love the movie. 9/10.

This is my first comment for this site, so be gentle. The history of PORTRAIT OF JENNIE is fairly well known...a love letter from producer David O. Selznick to Jennifer Jones...and it shows by giving her, in my opinion, one of the best showcases for her talents at that time. I have read the pros and cons about this film, but each time I watch it, which isn't often, being the romantic that I am, I can sense it in the way she was treated in the film.

Why don't I watch it that often? Because it touches me in personal ways in terms of the loneliness of the two main characters, the yearning to find someone and not be alone. But most importantly, the music score arranged by the great Dmitri Tiomkin from the works of Claude Debussy. I am sorry that nobody has ever issued a track LP or CD of Tiomkin's score. To me it is a beautiful, sometimes haunting arrangement, with the theme used for Jennie touching me...I believe it is called THE GIRL WITH THE FLAXEN HAIR...I could be wrong. At points it became painful for me to watch as the film touches certain personal pains (the loneliness part particularly, more so since I lost my parents recently after caring for them and have no family to speak of). When the final scene occurs, showing the portrait itself in the museum in full color and Tiomkin's music plays over it, I am in tears. It sounds stupid, doesn't it...

The film itself is not the perfect movie that Selznick had wanted but the flaws are minor to the final result. It is a film not just for those with a romantic streak still in them, but also for the lonely, maybe giving them a message of hope.

I am glad that, unlike many classic films, this one has been preserved and is available on video. Well, that's my rambling on the subject. It may not be film criticism but its how I feel about PORTRAIT OF JENNIE.

I had only seen this film only the once,until recently and I recall it was on a rainy Sunday afternoon. I only started watching this film has there was not much else on, however when it had finished, i wanted to watch it again,and stayed up late so that i could watch the repeat showing.what make this stand out was the other world feeling of it,the photography,the feel of New York in a bygone era, and the music,Debussey, which is haunting adds to the overall ambiance,It is in essence a love story which transcends time and , is told with tenderness and beauty. It's mood lingers in the heart and its planes challenge the mind. It always leaves a void when the film ends and i can truly feel Ebans pain at losing Jennie. You can read into a lot of metaphorical stuff in the film and the book - cleverly done. The ending is both heartening yet crucifying,emotionally a story of two star crossed lovers, The overall realisation that through the barrier of time love is enduring and never ending, a wonderful film which is a must for all romantics out there. Highly recommended.