Manon

With his short CV, Henri-George Clouzot is known only for his international hits, WAGES OF FEAR and DIABOLIQUE, yet every newfound title turns out to be a near masterpiece. This updated take on the infamous Prevost tale (operatic versions include Auber, Massenet & Puccini) is a notch below breathtaking 'finds' like QUAI DES ORFEVRES, LE CORBEAU and his striking film of the Verdi REQUIEM. But on its own terms it's ingenious & effective, perfectly fitting the story into the morally ambiguous climate of post WWII France.

As the heedless young beauty who loves the rich life when she should love her besotted spouse (and vice versa), Cecile Aubry makes an appalling & devastating French sex-kitten, admittedly, an acquired taste. Michel Auclair, in Gerard Philipe mode, is very fine as her tormented husband and Serge Reggiani as Manon's amoral brother is beyond praise. And who but Clouzot would have the chutzpah to merge Manon's exile to a group of Jewish refugees trying to smuggle themselves into Israel.

NOTE: This title is currently unavailable in ANY video format. Is there no justice?!

Manon is directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot and Clouzot co-adapts the screenplay with Jean Ferry from the novel "Manon Lescaut" written by Abbe Prevost. It stars Serge Reggiani, Michel Auclair, Cécile Aubry, Andrex and Raymond Souplex. Music is by Paul Misraki and cinematography by Armand Thirard.

Clouzot, still smarting from the hysterical fall out from his brilliant "Le Corbeau", realigns the Prevost novel to post war France right after the liberation from Nazi occupancy. With his muse set alight, Clouzot set about putting on film the dark venality of the human condition, to show that post war France was hardly a joyous new world. Right here with "Manon" he lets rip, thrusting to the forefront black market racketeers and prostitution, people who inhabit a morally corrupt city in serious decay.

The central narrative concerns Robert Dégrieux (Auclair a splendid dope) and Manon Lescaut (Aubry cunningly adorable), where the former quickly falls in love with the latter and finds himself spun into a vortex of mistrust and misjudgements, becoming more compulsive and foolish by the day. The pursuit of a dream life by both Robert and Manon, runs concurrently with that of the Jewish people attempting to reach Israel, it is here where Clouzot is building towards a quite outstanding last quarter of film.

As the pic pulses away with film noir character beats, these are matched by the visual astuteness of the director and his cinematographer, who use high contrasts and canted angles for narrative embracement. A number of striking sequences grab the attention, be it the portentous meeting of Robert and Manon in the war torn ruins of a church (hello Christ imagery), or a mass trek through the desert beneath ominously low night time clouds, the makers ensure the mood is constantly foreboding.

Superbly performed by the cast, "Manon" is further evidence of what a true great of cinema Clouzot was. 9/10

This is a directional shift for Clouzot. His first three directed films were mystery/suspense films, but here he chose to make an updated version of the novel Manon Lescaut by Antoine François Prévost, updating the setting from the 18th century to the mid-20th and that later portions from Louisiana to Israel. It's more of a literary drama, one that includes scenes for Clouzot to insert his strong command of suspense, but it stands out from the overall perception of his work in retrospect and what he had created so far. It works. It's solidly good, proving that Clouzot was more than a magician of suspense.

A ship carrying Jewish refugees clandestinely to Israel discovers that it has two stowaways on board: Robert Degriuex (Michel Auclair) and Manon (Cecile Aubry). They are on the run because Robert is accused of murder, and the captain (Henri Vilbert) hears their story. It begins at the tail end of WWII when Robert was helping clear a French town of German soldiers when he found Manon about to have her head shaved by the locals for being a collaborator. She insists that it's not true. The two immediately fall in love and run off to Paris together. They get set up with Manon's brother, Leon (Serge Reggiani), who works for a local pimp and gangster. With dreams of making a happy, middle class life, Robert lives it big on his father's money for a time before finally looking for work when he gets cut off. It's here where the divide between Robert's and Manon's visions of life become evident.

Manon wants to live well, no matter the cost. So, she is perfectly willing to prostitute herself out for the cash. That starts with the gangster, which then becomes her working in a high-class brothel in Marseille as Robert makes pennies (or, sous, I guess). He really doesn't like this, and they keep erupting into huge fights about it, coming back together in fits of passion because they love each other.

Now, this feels extremely French, and I buy it. He loves her. She loves him. She wants a better life, and she wants it with him. However, she'll do anything to get it, even if it means hurting him. He'll do anything to keep her, including working himself to the bone to get it. It's a conflict of character, rooted in storytelling, that gives the film its grounding to tell its story. Clouzot's second greatest strength across his first three films (the first being the suspense) was his approach to character, prioritizing character over things like plot to provide the kind of foundation on which to place the suspense. It's what makes his films work. Here, it's almost all character, with the murder that Robert ends up running from being the only real source of concentrated tension and suspense in the whole film.

The couple end up on the Israeli shore with the refugees, and I really wondered what the film was doing. There was almost half an hour left in the film, and it felt like the happy ending was happening. And then, the moralist aspect of the whole thing became increasingly apparent. These two people are not good people. Them finding paradise, like they do for a moment at an oasis in the desert, is not where they should end up, and a roving pack of Bedouins provides that kind of closure.

It's melodrama through and through with solid performances that always edge perhaps a little too closely to over-the-top but never fully get there. Auclair and Aubry are the focus, from beginning to end, and they get their big moments together, playing off each other as they go from sullen to angry and back, alternatively, in scene after scene. It's a portrait of a deeply unhealthy relationship, and one that Clouzot makes surprisingly compelling as information gets discovered and revealed, all leading to the first ending we know about (their escape onto the boat) and then a second ending that feels inevitable and, one might say, just.

So, it's something of an aberration in Clouzot's body of work (we all know he'll be back to pure suspense soon enough), but he demonstrates his general cinematic acumen well with this adaptation of classic (if controversial at its publishing) piece of French literature. It's not the top of the stack of his filmography. It's kind of an unusual entry. But it's a solid piece of melodrama.

Even after listening to director, Clouzot talking about the making of this film, it is difficult to understand quite why he made it. Loosely based upon an 18th century tale this has been changed around to fit a 2nd World War situation and must have something to do with the virtual ban he had after the accusations following the release of his brilliant Le Corbeau. In any event, this is a mess and for a man of intellect and literary allusions, a serious misjudgment. Even the structure with the constant flashbacks is unhelpful but the central tale of the young girl out for money and fun and men, leaves the central male and intended saviour looking more like a misguided young fool. The final scenes in the desert are as if from another movie with beautifully shot skies and lines of escaped but doomed Jewish refugees. Almost dreamlike the finale has a surreal quality to it and as the inevitable ending looms so the swirling sands seem destined to envelope both our so called hero and heroine.

1. The Third Man 2. White Heat 3. The Heiress 4. Kind Hearts and Coronets 5. A Letter to Three Wives 6. Intruder in the Dust 7. (Banshun) Late spring 8. Criss Cross 9. The Fountainhead 10. Occupe-toi d'Amélie..! 11. The Great Sinner 12. The Set-Up 13. All the King's Men 14. Stray dog (Nora inu) 15. Thieves' Highway 16. Adam's Rib 17. Riso amaro 18. On the Town 19. Manon 20. Le silence de la mer