Magnificently produced, if highly fanciful, biopic of French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz, made during the Nazi occupation, but not given general release till after the war. (Apparently, Propaganda Minister Goebbels found it too covertly French patriotic! Nazi approved films were meant to lull the locals, not stir them up!) Imaginatively directed by Christian-Jaque, whose best known work lay ahead (UN REVENANT; FANFAN LA TULIPE), it’s handsomely lensed (and sepia tinted) by Henri-Georges Clouzot/Julien Duvivier regular Armand Thiraud, with deluxe production design from Andrej Andrejew and solidly cast from Jean-Louis Barrault’s Berlioz on down. What’s missing is a believable script. So many great stories to choose from (easily found in his famous MEMOIRS*), replaced by weary clichés of misunderstood genius. Who’d skip over Berlioz locked at The Academy writing a cantata to win a Prix de Rome while outside the 1828 Paris Uprising is tearing down the city. And though we cover his infatuation with Shakespearean Irish actress Harriet Smithson, they ignore the fact that she only spoke English and he only French! (They married anyway.) And where’s her sudden arrival at the first performance of his SYMPHONY FANTASTIQUE? Ground zero of the Romantic Era. Or the death of Berlioz’s beloved son at sea. His losing fight to have his masterpiece, LES TROYENS, performed at somethng like full length at L’Opera. (Tellingly, a roaming shot of his most famous scores doesn’t even include it as TROYENS all but disappeared until the 1950s.) Even when we do get a famous moment, it’s out of context/out of order, meaninglessly tucked away. Very frustrating to watch, though worth a look as you can so easily see what might have been.
READ ALL ABOUT IT: *David Cairns’ essential 2-volume Berlioz bio (best read in reverse order), even better than the MEMOIRS or Jacques Barzun’s classic BERLIOZ AND THE ROMANTIC CENTURY, with Volume One climaxing at the SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE premier.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Hollywood biopics of classical composers are equally bad. Though SONG OF LOVE/’47, with Katherine Hepburn, Paul Henreid & Robert Walker, as the Schumanns & Brahms (I know, I know, it sounds terrible), is a lot better than you expect. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2020/02/song-of-love-1947.html
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