Rendez-vous de juillet (1949)

Réalisateur:

Jacques Becker

Scénaristes:

Jacques Becker (scenario, story development & dialogue)
Maurice Griffe (scenario)

Date de sortie:

6 décembre 1949 (France)

Genre:

Comedie | Drame

Intrigue:

Hopes and love and ambitions and friendship in a group of young jazz-loving Parisians. |

Plot Keywords:

Friendship | Theater | Angst | Teenager | Filmmaking

Récompenses:

2 wins

Avis des utilisateurs:

Unique.

Ensemble

Daniel Gélin	...	Lucien
Brigitte Auber	...	Thérèse
Nicole Courcel	...	Christine Courcel
Pierre Trabaud	...	Pierrot
Maurice Ronet	...	Roger
Philippe Mareuil	...	François
Henri Belly
Jacques Fabbri
Michel Barbey
Francis Maziére	...	Frédéric
Robert Lombard	...	Un ami de Lucien
Jean Pommier
María Riquelme
Annie Noël
Claude Luter	...	Chef orchestre

Autre(s) titre(s):

Rendezvous in July (International: English title)

Durée:

112 min | Finland:100 min

Pays:

France

Langue:

Français

Couleur:

Noir et Blanc

Rapport de forme:

1,37 : 1

Son:

Mono (Klangfilm)

Classification:

Finland:S | Sweden:15

Lieux de tournage:

Franstudio, Saint-Maurice, Val-de-Marne, France

Société:

Union Générale Cinématographique (UGC)

Anecdotes:

Film debut of Capucine,

Unique.

Another missing link between the patriarchs and the overrated new wave.But this one is unique:nothing had been done before ,and a lot of directors tried to imitate it later ,to no avail.

This movie cannot be taken out of context :it has to be considered at once. in its era and in Becker's work.

1949,just after the war,it's the rise of a new youth ,who is still enthusiast and who has almost nothing to do with the blasé characters of the 1960 generation (Claude Chabrol's "les cousins" ,particularly Jean-Claude Brialy's part).Daniel Gélin and Brigitte Auber epitomize this soif de vivre ,and their optimism -almost absent in the nouvelle vague works- is quite infectious :the audience sides with them from the first line.It's really a brand new world they want to build and it's not a matter of chance if Gelin gives up the father's company and looks for broader horizons:ethnography in Africa.Old Europa is a thing of the past.

Becker had made four movies,but now the first is forgotten and impossible to find.So "Goupi Mains Rouges" -one of his very best and which too many people overlook-,"falbalas" and "Antoine et Antoinette". The latter movie and its follow-up (this movie) have strong analogies:both describe the fulfillment of a dream,even if the first one takes place in a working-class milieu whereas "Rendez-vous" depicts a bourgeois -not meant pejoratively- youth.In "Antoine et Antoinette" ,the hero wins at the French national lottery,then lost his wallet in which...(it showed a René Clair influence ("le million" 1931),but it has stood the time much better than Clair's thirties works)

Filmed on location in the streets of Paris,it paved a reliable royal way for the nouvelle vague,but its charms are more pristine and more delightful than these of Godard and co.No smugness,no self-consciousness,and a strong screenplay -which will often lack in the works of the nouvelle vague young Turks-,and no contempt for the directors who came before (as the René Clair and Jean Grémillon ("le ciel est à vous" 1943)influences testify).The female star Brigitte Auber had another strong part in the marvelous but much less optimistic Duvivier's "sous le ciel de Paris" ,then worked with Hitchcock (in a minor film though:"to catch a thief" and then got lost in mediocrities.Another Brigitte had taken her place .

Optimism will continue in the follow-up "Edouard et Caroline" (1951) and "rue de l'estrapade" (1953)(both movies featuring Gélin too)but will finally come to an end with "touchez pas au grisbi"(1954) :maybe for the characters who are older (Gabin) it's too late.Becker's final masterwork "le trou" will be pessimism flesh on the bone, a terrifying death metaphor.