tous les matins du monde
Gadfly
(Francois Velde) writes:
> There are references to the visual arts of the 17th century, at least
> as much as there are to the music, literature, religion of the time (which
> I mentioned in my previous long post).
Curiously, there is no evidence that St. Colombe was ever involved with
any special sects. This is not a criticism of the film per se--its
makers were under no obligation to be historically accurate, especially
given the paucity of information about St Colombe. But in portraying him
as a mystic--essentially the 17th C French analogue of a Zen master--I felt
it was that much more critical for him to appear to truly be a guru of
his craft.
> Two stand out (for me): one
> reference is explicit. The painter Lubin Baugin, who appears in the movie
> played by one of France's best actors (M. Bouquet), did exist (1612-1663),
> although he is not quite well-known :-) He painted sacred and mythological
> subjects, but there are also 4 still life paintings of his, including
> the one with wafers in the Louvre, which features prominently in the movie.
> The other reference is not explicit: but particularly the last scene, with
> the two musicians in the little wooden cabin, playing by candlelight,
> strongly evokes the paintings of La Tour...
Thanks for pointing this out. Now I may have to see the damned flick again.
I am not surprised, given the accuracy of costume, that they paid such
attention to even peripheral detail. Which makes me wonder all the more
about the abysmal "air gamba" acting.
> So why do I go to concerts if I can't even reject the movie because
> Jean-Pierre Marielle's fingers are all over the map? I dunno. Maybe
> the music in the movie is more than the product of actors' gestures,
> more than accompaniment.
It surely is. The music itself almost makes up for the actors' deficiencies.
Almost.
> I noted that there weren't a *lot* of scenes
> where the fingers could be seen, and often the music is heard even as
> the scene changes and no one is seen playing the viol anymore...
Even the scenes where the fingers are obscured are bad--the actors are
obviously just holding the instrument, not playing it. Except for
Depardieu fils. In my initial trashing of the flick I stated that
he obviously had had some cello lessons. I was mistaken--he really
did learn to play the gamba, I'm told.
> ... I think the music takes on a life of its own
> in the movie, and I took it as such, somewhat detached from the actual
> movements of the fingers. No, frankly, I wasn;t upset. So to those
> gamba players who say it doesn't take a gamba player to be upset by
> the lack of realism, here's one counter-example.
And to some it is the message about the meaning and application of art
which takes on a life of its own. I cannot say that you (or they) are
wrong, only that for me, personally, the added value of a movie--over a
book or a recording--is in the action. That doesn't mean that the
movie has to be realistic (I love Bunuel), but that it must be true to
its premise, and for me what and how the protagonists played was
essential to who they were.
> As for Depardieu sleepwalking through the movie, that's a point of view.
> He certainly does not have a truculent role; but it is not easy to play
> Marais the humbled, Marais confused, Marais dying.
He had no problem with Danton, although the humbled, confused, and dying
parts are rather more compressed. But the somnambulism was not really
a criticism--the elder Marais is reflecting on his encounters with
St Colombe, so the dreamy quality is quite appropriate. It was merely
another miscasting of the large and rough Depardieu, who (again, for me)
works much better when he's in motion, as does the film genre in general.
> The final scene takes
> place in January, and the leaves are still on the trees. OK, so there are
> 5 seconds of exterior shots (at *night*) where you can actually see the
> leaves.
Sure it's not totally obvious. I mean, this wasn't a comedy. But for
all the attention to details elsewhere, it was very distracting.
> But these shots are the same as those shown a minute before, as
> the narrator explains that, every night he could, for three years, he
> kept returning to the little cabin. Again, I was not shocked, even though
> I was warned this time.
It's OK for the summer shots to go with the narration. He's remembering
the cabin essentially out of time. (Frank Capra might have put a little
calendar in the upper left with the pages falling off, but it would
have been expensive to reproduce an accurate 17th C calendar :-) When
it comes to a replay of a cold night in January, however, and it's important
enough to mention that it's a cold night in January, excuse me, *I* expect
to see a cold night in January. I guess they were under some time pressure
to put the whole thing "in the can". Even so, some dead trees and soap
flakes would have worked miracles (or they did for Capra).
> I was less "schocked" than at the use of the
> Couperin Lecons des Tenebres, which were not composed until 40 years later...
Good ears--I missed that completely. Hey, there's hope for you yet:-)
*** ***
Ken Perlow ***** *****
13 Jan 93 ****** ****** 24 Nivose An CCI
***** ***** gad...@ihspc.att.com
** ** ** **
...L'AUDACE! *** *** TOUJOURS DE L'AUDACE! ENCORE DE L'AUDACE!
Morgan Besson
>Well, I saw _Tous les matins du monde_ again, just to make sure. After all,
> ...
I have a question about "Le Tombeau des Regrets". This piece is not on
the CD, or is it the same as "Les Pleurs"? I could not remember all the
musical pieces in the film.
Thanks in advance.
Morgan Besson
Villanova University
Villanova, Pennsylvania USA
Joan Boorstein
>
>I have a question about "Le Tombeau des Regrets". This piece is not on
>the CD, or is it the same as "Les Pleurs"? I could not remember all the
>musical pieces in the film.
"Tombeau Les Regrets" is the first section of Saint Colombe's Concert XLIV.
Whether is is the title of the piece could be debated -- in the table of
contents of P. Hooreman's edition, the Concert's title is simply 'Le tombeau'.
Not all sections (as delineated by double bars in the edition) are named.
"Les pleurs" is one of the named sections.
As I recall the film, this Concert was never played in its entirety -- nor
were most of the selections -- even more annoying was that all of Saint
Colombe's Concerts are two part pieces and the viewer frequently only heard
a single part.
Joan (jb...@cs.umb.edu)