This is the eleventh Andre Cayatte film I've seen, and only the second (after "Au Bonheur des Dames") I've found disappointing. I can't understand the enthusiasm of the first two reviews, and find it hard to believe that Jean Anouilh, one of the leading French playwrights of the last century, co-wrote the script and was responsible for the dialogue. On the plus side Madeleine Robinson was excellent as the scheming Jeanne Mureau, and there are sympathetic performances from Jean Gaven as Dominique's lover and Rene Dary as a kindly doctor, but the other characters are unpleasant. That's not usually a problem (villains are more fun to watch), but it is when they're boring. Another minus is that Dany Carrel, who was 30 at the time, talks like a little girl, an irritating trait which is not unknown among French actresses (Marlene Jobert, star of another Japrisot adaptation "Rider on the Rain", is another culprit.)
The film starts intriguingly, but is so interminable that I soon lost interest in the twists and turns, and has no interest in how it would be resolved. I rarely disagree with the incredibly knowledgeable dbdumonteil, but this time I have to.
Review of Piège pour Cendrillon
