La Symphonie Pastorale (1946)
Country: FR
Technical: bw 105m
Director: Jean Delannoy
Cast: Pierre Blanchar, Michèle Morgan
Synopsis:
A priest takes a disproportionate interest in the fate of a blind girl, with mixed consequences.
Review:
Based on a first-person novella by André Gide, in which the self-deception of the principal character is implicit, this adaptation inevitably falls prey to literalism, with friction between the girl and her protector emphasised by additional scenes and confrontations, and Gidian irony absent. Furthermore, Morgan is too old for the part, even if the most visually effective moments revolve around her: the shot in which she beholds Jacques/us for the first time at the clinic, and the carefully composed shot of her lifeless stare from death in the snow, her hair all splayed out around her. The director had obviously seen Wuthering Heights, and includes an inapt closing shot too reminiscent of the romantic apotheosis of Wyler's film, together with melodramatic canted shots and exaggerated effects. To cap it all, the scene which gives the book its title, in which the blind girl hears Beethoven's music and wonders at the undiscovered glories of creation, is wholly unrepresented, rendering the reference incomprehensible or irrelevant. All in all, something of a travesty.
Country: FR
Technical: bw 105m
Director: Jean Delannoy
Cast: Pierre Blanchar, Michèle Morgan
Synopsis:
A priest takes a disproportionate interest in the fate of a blind girl, with mixed consequences.
Review:
Based on a first-person novella by André Gide, in which the self-deception of the principal character is implicit, this adaptation inevitably falls prey to literalism, with friction between the girl and her protector emphasised by additional scenes and confrontations, and Gidian irony absent. Furthermore, Morgan is too old for the part, even if the most visually effective moments revolve around her: the shot in which she beholds Jacques/us for the first time at the clinic, and the carefully composed shot of her lifeless stare from death in the snow, her hair all splayed out around her. The director had obviously seen Wuthering Heights, and includes an inapt closing shot too reminiscent of the romantic apotheosis of Wyler's film, together with melodramatic canted shots and exaggerated effects. To cap it all, the scene which gives the book its title, in which the blind girl hears Beethoven's music and wonders at the undiscovered glories of creation, is wholly unrepresented, rendering the reference incomprehensible or irrelevant. All in all, something of a travesty.
Country: FR
Technical: bw 105m
Director: Jean Delannoy
Cast: Pierre Blanchar, Michèle Morgan
Synopsis:
A priest takes a disproportionate interest in the fate of a blind girl, with mixed consequences.
Review:
Based on a first-person novella by André Gide, in which the self-deception of the principal character is implicit, this adaptation inevitably falls prey to literalism, with friction between the girl and her protector emphasised by additional scenes and confrontations, and Gidian irony absent. Furthermore, Morgan is too old for the part, even if the most visually effective moments revolve around her: the shot in which she beholds Jacques/us for the first time at the clinic, and the carefully composed shot of her lifeless stare from death in the snow, her hair all splayed out around her. The director had obviously seen Wuthering Heights, and includes an inapt closing shot too reminiscent of the romantic apotheosis of Wyler's film, together with melodramatic canted shots and exaggerated effects. To cap it all, the scene which gives the book its title, in which the blind girl hears Beethoven's music and wonders at the undiscovered glories of creation, is wholly unrepresented, rendering the reference incomprehensible or irrelevant. All in all, something of a travesty.