Une vie

Eräs elämäntarina / Mannen i mitt liv. IT/FR (c) 1958 Agnès Delahaie Productions. P: Annie Dorfmann [= Agnès Delahaie], Louis Wipf. SC: Alexandre Astruc, Roland Laudenbach - based on the novel by Guy de Maupassant (1883). DP: Claude Renoir - Eastmancolor - 1,66:1. PD: Paul Bertrand. COST: Mayo, Lucilla Mussini. M: Roman Vlad. ED: Claudine Bouché. LOC: Normandie. Le film a été tourné en grande partie près de Cherbourg, dans les paysages de la Hague. CAST: Maria Schell (Jeanne Dandieu épouse de Lamare), Christian Marquand (Julien de Lamare), Pascale Petit (Rosalie, the maid), Louis Arbessier (M. Dandieu, the father), Marie-Hélène Dasté (Mme. Dandieu, the mother), Antonella Lualdi (Gilberte de Fourcheville), Ivan Desny (De Fourcheville). 85 min. A vintage print with Finnish / Swedish intertitles viewed at Cinema Orion, 17 June 2009. - A good vintage print with the colour pretty ok, intact. - A visually dynamic adaptation of Maupassant's first novel. There is a surge of consistent movement in this story filmed on location in Normandy. - In marriage, the woman finds herself. - In marriage, the man loses himself, being an eternal seeker, a wanderer. - The man's wild, untamed sexuality brings forth tragedy. - The sex scenes are strong and original. - His three women: Jeanne, his wife. Rosalie, the maid, who gets pregnant. Gilberte, the wife of his best friend. - The Normandy location is vivid. The sea, the beach, the wind are important. - Expressive cinematography by Claude Renoir. - A dynamic score by Roman Vlad. - The actors are fine. Antonella Lualdi is capable of implying a lot in just one look.

Ystävykset

Guy de Maupassantin Ystävykset [title on film] / [Deux amis]. FI 1969. PC: FJ Filmi. P+D+SC: Anssi Mänttäri - based on the short story "Deux amis" by Guy de Maupassant (1883). DP: Heikki Katajisto - colour. M: Asko Mänttäri. S: Erkki Seiro. ED: Taina Kanth. CAST: Jukka Sipilä and Olavi Ahonen (the two friends), Jaakko Pakkasvirta, Matti Oravisto. 16 min. A KAVA print viewed at Cinema Orion, 15 May 2009. - The colour was somewhat red-brownish, but AM told me that it was already a bit like that when the print arrived from the Gevaert lab in the Netherlands in 1969. - In the presence of Anssi Mänttäri and Heikki Katajisto, interviewed by Markku Varjola. - AM: "As a young man I thought I was a gifted actor. Then I participated in Sissit [Guerrilla Patrol, 1963] as an actor, and started to think that I would want to become a director, instead. Aito Mäkinen and Juho Gartz urged me to apply for a grant for young artists. As I was leafing through books at the Academic Bookstore, I stumbled upon Guy de Maupassant short story 'Deux amis', read it then and there and decided to film it. There was never a script. On location we had the short story itself in hand. The DP was Heikki Katajisto, we shot in Kirkkonummi and Sipoo. As our crew asked for permission, the land-owner complained that there was still a hole in his boat since the last film crew was there. He never learned that I was to blame since I had been the propman in Hopeaa rajan takaa [Silver Beyond the Border, 1963]. " - Heikki Katajisto has photographed all Anssi Mänttäri's films during 40 years. "Like a ram by the rope", no. They have basically agreed on things, and sometimes quarrelled. - It is war. Two friends want to go fishing. "How stupid men are".