Marcel Blistene may well have possessed an overdeveloped sense of symmetry for he began and ended his Directorial career in 1946 with Etoile Sans lumiere starring Edith Piaf and ended it 10 films and thirteen years later with Les Amants de demain, starring Edith Piaf. If Blistene made only ten films (plus one TV episode a little later) The Little Sparrow made only eight and it's a little sad that these two relatively short film careers concluded with something as downbeat as this rather than with something more uplifting. One wonders what Blistene was thinking of when he ventured at such a late date into the world of Poetic Realism. He had cause to know better for in the very same year (1946) that he first teamed up with Piaf, the creators of the genre, Jacques Prevert and Marcel Carne came a spectacular cropper with Les Portes de la nuit in which they attempted to infuse a romantic fantasy onto a world rife with collaborators and black marketeers. Ironically Yves Montand appeared in both films though he had to wait almost a decade to make a mark as an actor whilst Prevert and Carne never worked together again. If Poetic Realism had had its day by 1946 by 1959 there was competition from the latest flavour-of-the-month the Nouvelle Vague and though it was short-lived and insubstantial in 1959 it was climbing the North Face of an academic and pseud-fuelled orgasm and a movie like Les Amants de demain didn't have a chance. Pierre Brasseur who acted in 150 films and wrote two over a period of 21 years, turned out a fairly turgid script in which several Losers are captured doing what they do best. It was a nice touch to have Piaf present in the early scenes but shot with her head in her hands so that Blistene can 'reveal' his star after the best part of one reel has elapsed - his strength is in merely registering a figure at the corner of the frame as opposed to lingering on it in order to provoke interest. Piaf gets to sing three fine songs, all with music by her long-time composer Marguerite Monnot and those constitute the highlights of a film that is more interesting than entertaining.
2 Reviews
Black Xmas
dbdumonteil27 September 2008
Marcel Blistene had already directed the great chanteuse in the superior "Etoile Sans Lumière" ,which,in its own way ,predated some aspects of "singing in the rain" (how to pass from the silent age to the talkies).Sadly ,'Les Amants de Demain" suffers from a very poor screenplay and a weak directing.
This is Realisme Poetique at a time France was going another way.The writers obviously borrowed from Marcel Carné ("Hotel du Nord",1938: the Xmas' eve dinner recalls the Communion meal ) and from his followers (Yves Allégret: "Une Si Jolie Petite Plage" 1949, a man who takes refuge in a seedy place;the scene when Piaf and Michel Auclair talk about their doomed life in a pouring rain directly comes from Allégret's work.
A seedy place,full of brutes ,of informers ,of ugly gossipy women ,where tomorrow's lovers cannot find a place of their own.Réalisme Poétique indeed.But no Jacques Prévert.The only (macho) interesting line is: "don't you talk about politics !there are women in here!" (it was 1959 and in France ,women did not vote before 1946) Fortunately ,Edith Piaf sings and her terrific voice provides some moments of real joy: particularly "Fais Comme Si' which she sings to her new love who is behind the wall;and the "Noel de Finlande" lullaby she performs as she rocks a little boy to sleep;the title track is a good Marguerite Monnot -who wrote the whole score- song ,but as a final it's a bit ludicrous and turgid.
This is Realisme Poetique at a time France was going another way.The writers obviously borrowed from Marcel Carné ("Hotel du Nord",1938: the Xmas' eve dinner recalls the Communion meal ) and from his followers (Yves Allégret: "Une Si Jolie Petite Plage" 1949, a man who takes refuge in a seedy place;the scene when Piaf and Michel Auclair talk about their doomed life in a pouring rain directly comes from Allégret's work.
A seedy place,full of brutes ,of informers ,of ugly gossipy women ,where tomorrow's lovers cannot find a place of their own.Réalisme Poétique indeed.But no Jacques Prévert.The only (macho) interesting line is: "don't you talk about politics !there are women in here!" (it was 1959 and in France ,women did not vote before 1946) Fortunately ,Edith Piaf sings and her terrific voice provides some moments of real joy: particularly "Fais Comme Si' which she sings to her new love who is behind the wall;and the "Noel de Finlande" lullaby she performs as she rocks a little boy to sleep;the title track is a good Marguerite Monnot -who wrote the whole score- song ,but as a final it's a bit ludicrous and turgid.
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