Manon (1949)

Set in France during the last days of WWII, a former resistance fighter (Michel Auclair) falls in love with a promiscuous young girl (Cecile Aubry), who may have collaborated with the Nazis. They run off together to Paris but her penchant for luxury and the finer things in life, things he cannot give her proves toxic to their relationship. Based on the (then) controversial 1731 novel MANON LESCAUT by Abbe Prevost and directed by Henri Georges Clouzot (DIABOLIQUE). MANON LESCAUT is probably best known for the popular Puccini opera which retains its period setting. This is a fine film highlighted by the striking B&W images of cinematographer Armand Thirard (AND GOD CREATED WOMAN) and Clouzot keeps the intensity of the lovers' impassioned relationship at the forefront for a fascinating journey. But I was still distanced from the film throughout. There's something unsavory about a masochistic romance where one treats the other cruelly with continual lying, humiliation and abuse while the other keeps crawling back to take more debasement because he loves her. It takes a murder for her to clear her head. Are we supposed to cheer the lovers on because they "love" each other? It works in opera because in opera, emotions are bigger than life. It might have worked in, say, a plush Douglas Sirk melodrama where everything is a heightened reality. But Clouzot plays it realistically and its natural ambiance clashes with the excessive melodramatics. This is not meant to negate the film's strong qualities and indeed, others may not have the same problem with the material (as seen here) that I did. With Serge Reggiani and Dora Doll.