THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 25, 1996 TAG: 9609250028
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: 74 lines
A RARE LOOK at two superb, and seldom seen, French films is available this week via restored prints. One is designed to seduce you into a romantic mood. The other provides nerve-racking tension - the kind of tension that is, in itself, a seductive game.
``Purple Noon,'' the 1967 thriller, is one of those few films that succeeds because of plot alone. The characters include a rich, spoiled and hedonistic young American, his lovely girlfriend, and his charming, handsome, but poor, friend. Two men and one woman have often been the basis of trouble, both in film and otherwise, but the stakes are lifted to intriguing proportions here. Social, sexual and financial envy become major motivations.
Tim Ripley, as played by Alain Delon, is one of the most ruthless and charming connivers in the crime film genre. He craves the wealth of his ``friend'' and he has the charm, and the looks, to weave himself into the social circles that can support him. Delon became an international star as a result of ``Purple Noon.''
Based on the novel ``The Talented Mr. Ripley'' by Patricia High-smith, the plot has Tim sent to Europe by a wealthy American father to retrieve his wandering son, Philippe. But Philippe is quite content to continue sunning and boating against the backdrop of southern Italy and the Tyrrhenian Sea. Some of Philippe's friends see Tim as no more than a sponger. The two men, though, are inseparable buddies.
Philippe's girlfriend, Marge, wants him to herself and regards Tim's continuous presence as an intrusion. The three of them go on a trip aboard the yacht and, suffice it to say, things happen.
Unavailable for almost two decades, the film has been restored with the financial backing of director Martin Scorsese. It has one of the most genuinely surprising finales of any thriller. It's the kind of effective shocker-ending that is perfectly plausible, but yet is capable of tricking us - the kind of turn that makes you wonder why you didn't think of it.
``Umbrellas of Cherbourg,'' on the other hand, has not a word of spoken dialogue. Every line is sung. Its re-release is prompted by the great success of last year's release of the Catherine Deneuve film ``Belle du Jour.'' Here, Deneuve, one of the great beauties of film history, plays the daughter of an umbrella-store owner who becomes pregnant by a man who is then called away into military service. In desperation, she agrees to marry someone else. The former lovers have a bittersweet meeting years later.
The music by Michele Legrand effectively weaves this adult fable. The film received five Academy Award nominations, a rarity for a foreign-language film, and a suggestion that moviegoers were more romantic back in 1964 when this was originally released.
``Umbrellas of Cherbourg'' is an acquired taste. Friendships have been broken via arguments on the worth or lack of worth of this film. Jacques Demy used varied rainbow hues to make the entire look that of another world. As an effort at creating a romantic fable, it is quite unique.
The film, incidentally, is returning to the very same Norfolk theater where it opened in 1964. ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC
MOVIE REVIEWS
``Purple Noon''
Cast: Alain Delon, Marie Laforet, Maurice Ronet
Director: Rene Clement
Screenplay: Rene Clement and Paul Glegauff
Music: Nino Roto
MPAA rating: (Not rated by MPAA - Some violence)
Mal's rating: ****
Umbrellas of Cherbourg''
Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo
Director: Jacques Demy
Music: Michel Legrand
MPAA rating: (Not rated by MPAA - A sweet romance)
Mal's rating: ***
Location: Naro in Norfolk by CNB