This afternoon I have been immersed up to mon tete dans le cinema Francais classique.
I kicked off with Claude Chabrol's 1991 adaptation of Flaubert's MADAME BOVARY starring Isabelle Huppert. The story certainly seems to have a hold on the imagination of filmmakers with six films and almost as many tv versions.

Isabelle Huppert gives another remarkably unsentimental performance as the infuriating Madame B. Escaping a dwindling existance on her father's village farm through marriage to dull Doctor Charles Bovary, Emma finds life no better as a doctor's wife in a small market town. An unexpected invitation to a local Count's ball gives her a tantalising glimpse of the world of the upper classes and she starts to seek a way out of her marriage, first through a passionate relationship with a local landowner not realising for him it's a mere dalliance then with a young student, all the while running up a large debts with an obsequious dressmaker. Chabrol seems less interested in Emma's reckless plunge into amour fou than in another of his dispassionate views of infidelity among le petite bourgeoisie. What makes the film watchable is Huppert, Sadly the actors in the film seem cowed by her fiercely intellectual performance and overall the film fails to leave one moved by her ultimate foolish act.

Next up Francois Truffaut's 1980 film THE LAST METRO (Le Derniere Metro) starring the great pairing of Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu. A success at the time of release, the film went on to win a remarkable 10 Cesar Awards including Best Film, Director, Actor and Actress. It's not hard to see why it was so honoured. It's made with great care and affection with fine, humane performances by all involved.

Set in Occupied Paris during WWII, the film tells the story of Marian Steiner who struggles to run the theatre formally run by her Jewish director husband who is believed to have escaped to South America but is in fact hiding in the theatre's cellars. Casting a new play, Marian and the director (played delightfully by Jean Poiret) give a chance to a young actor (Depardieu) to play opposite her. He too has a secret, helping a friend's resistance activities. Among the extras on the disc, there is an interesting interview with Truffaut where he admits to having doubts about the finished script. He's right too... despite the excellence in the playing and the mise en scene, the script doesn't quite add up and the film left me feeling vaguely disappointed.