Catherine Deneuve films always seem to repeat their set ups - in the late 60s she always seemed to be playing ice princesses torn between a wealthy older lover and an improverished younger one; in the 70s she was stuck on an island with a seemingly-rough-but-actually cultured man. In Liza it was Marcello Mastroianni - here it's Yves Montand.
The plot seems inspired by 30s Hollywood screwball comedies with Deneuve channelling the spirit of Carole Lombard - she runs away from a marriage and winds up on a tropical island with grizzly Montand. The set up to get them there is contrived and it's a contrived film. Deneuve runs around and acts madcap a lot but is not a natural at it - she tries but simply doesn't have the spark.
She does look pretty though and Montand is good value, and both stars fully commit. Plus there is some pretty views on the tropical island, a decent maguffin in a painting by Tolouse Lautrec, and Hollywood faces Dana Wynter and Tony Roberts (speaking what seems to me at least to be passable French).
No comments:
Post a Comment