![]() ![]() ![]() This was perhaps never more evident than here, in which a perplexed and subsequently distraught Maurice Ronet (usually a purveyor of decadent bourgeois types) is virtually the whole show (even if it only lasts for 37 minutes). The film under review is only the second work of his that I have checked out and, so far, Astruc has demonstrated himself to have an unerring eye for detail but, by choosing actors who can be relied upon to extract the essence of any given tale, at the same time he makes certain to give characterization its due. Another author whose work he tackled, surprisingly enough, was Edgar Allan Poe: this was the first such effort, followed several years later by the similarly made-for-TV production of THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (1981 which, again, has yet to be rendered in English-friendly form). Director Astruc was originally a film theorist though best-known for the short THE CRIMSON CURTAIN (1952) – which, alas, is available only in an unsubtitled version with Russian voice-over to boot! – he also turned out a few features, among them, the superb melodrama adapted from an Emile Zola novel UNE VIE (1958). ![]()
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