My first Chabrol! This is pretty much the very first French New Wave film, and it's very good. I was surprised to see so many "meh"-to-negative reviews here, because this movie is just so well-rounded. It doesn't have many moments or techniques that make you drop your jaw in awe, but it's solid.
Jean-Claude Brialy gives an amazing performance as a man who returns to his home village and butts heads with his old best buddy. Gerard Blain also gives a great performance (though it doesn't reach the peaks of Brialy) as said best friend. He can onnly be described as the French response to James Dean or Montgomery Clift. His plot is filled with torture and angst as Blain straddles the teenage and adult worlds, unwilling to plant his feet in either.
The themes are in-your-face, but not preachy or annoying. It's a film about commitment and growing up, and Chabrol captures the experience of facing one's past eloquently. You can tell from the first ten minutes that Chabrol wanted to make something different with his camera work, and he achieves it. It is the blueprint for the great films to come.
It also gets points for being genuinely entertaining. It was totally a melodrama, but in the best way. (SIDE NOTE: Can we stop labelling films as 'melodrama' as an insult? Melodrama is a high art genre! It's just like any other genre! There's good horror and bad horror, good comedy and bad comedy, good melodrama and bad melodrama. Let's not use it to describe bad drama! Let's celebrate it for what it is.)
My first Chabrol! This is pretty much the very first French New Wave film, and it's very good. I was surprised to see so many "meh"-to-negative reviews here, because this movie is just so well-rounded. It doesn't have many moments or techniques that make you drop your jaw in awe, but it's solid.
Jean-Claude Brialy gives an amazing performance as a man who returns to his home village and butts heads with his old best buddy. Gerard Blain also gives a great performance (though it doesn't reach the peaks of Brialy) as said best friend. He can onnly be described as the French response to James Dean or Montgomery Clift. His plot is filled with torture and angst as Blain straddles the teenage and adult worlds, unwilling to plant his feet in either.
The themes are in-your-face, but not preachy or annoying. It's a film about commitment and growing up, and Chabrol captures the experience of facing one's past eloquently. You can tell from the first ten minutes that Chabrol wanted to make something different with his camera work, and he achieves it. It is the blueprint for the great films to come.
It also gets points for being genuinely entertaining. It was totally a melodrama, but in the best way. (SIDE NOTE: Can we stop labelling films as 'melodrama' as an insult? Melodrama is a high art genre! It's just like any other genre! There's good horror and bad horror, good comedy and bad comedy, good melodrama and bad melodrama. Let's not use it to describe bad drama! Let's celebrate it for what it is.)
