Mississippi Mermaid

Mississippi Mermaid
Mississippi Mermaid

Theatrical poster
Directed by François Truffaut
Produced by Marcel Berbert
François Truffaut
Written by François Truffaut
William Irish
Starring Catherine Deneuve
Jean-Paul Belmondo
Music by Antoine Duhamel
Cinematography Denys Clerval
Editing by Agnès Guillemot
Distributed by United Artists
Release date(s)

June 18, 1969
(France)

April 10, 1970
(USA, New York)
Running time 123 minutes
Country France
Language French
Budget $1,600,000

Mississippi Mermaid (French: La sirène du Mississipi) (1969) is a French film directed by François Truffaut. The film is adapted from the 1947 William Irish (Cornell Woolrich) novel Waltz into Darkness. The film features Jean-Paul Belmondo, Catherine Deneuve, and others.[1] The film was the 17th highest grossing film of the year with a total of 1,221,027 admissions in France. [2]

It was remade in 2001 as Original Sin, starring Antonio Banderas, Angelina Jolie, Thomas Jane, and directed by Michael Cristofer.

Contents

Plot

Truffaut juggles an Hitchcockian suspense/thriller with deepening sexual obsession. Louis (Jean-Paul Belmondo) owns a tobacco plantation and cigarette factory on Réunion Island, but it's lonely work — so he sends away for a mail-order bride.

Much to his surprise, the beautiful young Julie Roussel (Catherine Deneuve) arrives by ship (the Mississippi Mermaid of the title), looking nothing like the picture he had received by mail. Louis quickly falls for Julie, while discovering that she is decidedly not the woman with whom he had been corresponding.

Cast

  • Jean-Paul Belmondo as Louis Mahé
  • Catherine Deneuve as Julie Roussel/Marion Vergano
  • Nelly Borgeaud as Berthe
  • Martine Ferrière as Landlady
  • Marcel Berbert as Jardine
  • Yves Drouhet as Detective
  • Michel Bouquet as Camolli
  • Roland Thénot as Richard

Critical reception

When the film was exhibited in San Francisco in 1999, film critic Edward Guthmann lauded the film in a review, writing, "Truffaut tells his story with terrific dispatch, as if he was thrilled by its possibilities and couldn't wait to share his enthusiasm...the result is a cool combo of film noir, star vehicle and picaresque romance. It's vintage Truffaut, and a great way to get acquainted or reacquainted with one of cinema's true masters."[3]

The film, however, had many detractors. Dennis Schwartz, for example, wrote, "This perverse love story just doesn't fly. The two leads play unsympathetic characters and instead of getting into their character's heads they both play it as a game. It comes off as a disturbing film that seems pointless and has questionable entertainment value. It's one of the few misfires from the talented Truffaut, even with the restored 13 minutes missing from its American release that supposedly makes the film more lucid."[4]

References

  1. ^ La sirène du Mississippi at the Internet Movie Database.
  2. ^ http://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=9033&affich=france
  3. ^ Guthmann, Edward. San Francisco Chronicle, film review, "Truffaut's Mermaid Merits Second Look," May 14, 1999. Last accessed: February 21, 2008.
  4. ^ Schwartz, Dennis. Ozus' World Movie Reviews, January 22, 2008. Last accessed: February 21, 2008.

External links

v · d · eFilms by François Truffaut
Directed
Written only
Breathless · The Little Thief · Belle Époque

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