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.
Review of Ladies Lake
