Christine (1958)
5/10
A "liebelei" remake
23 December 2004
"Liebelei" was one of Max Ophuls's triumphs in the thirties .One should notice it was Romy's mother (Magda Schneider) who was the lead.The first thing to bear in mind is that "Liebelei" was BARELY a romantic story.A harsh tale,more like,where princes do not generally marry shepherdesses.For the young hero ,Christine is only a liebelei (passing fancy;amourette). A quarter of century later,the screenplay had been watered-down and cheapened.Romy Schneider taking on her mother's part was perhaps not a very good idea in the first place.Delon and Schneider met during the shoot and they became THE lovers of the late fifties/early sixties. As for "Christine" it's a tragedy ("liebelei" ) turning soap opera ,even if the ending was kept .Supporting cast includes Micheline Presles,Jean-Claude Brialy and Fernand Ledoux.Schneider's voice was dubbed in the original version ,for her French was not good enough at the time.With terrible results ,because the voice that dubs her (like in "Sissi" ) borders on silliness.

After "Christine" and a very small cameo of Romy in "Plein soleil" (the talented M.Ripley ,first version) ,Delon and Schneider would reunite twice :in "la piscine" (1968) and in "the assassination of Trotsky" (1971);they had planned to team up in a third one ,directed by Granier-Deferre circa 1981,but Romy died in 1982.
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