From: frankm@microsoft.com (Frank R.A.J. Maloney)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews
Subject: REVIEW: TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE
Summary: r.a.m.r. #01668
Keywords: author=Maloney
Date: 5 Jan 93 18:56:33 GMT
Reply-To: frankm@microsoft.com (Frank R.A.J. Maloney)
Followup-To: rec.arts.movies
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA


			   TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE
		       A film review by Frank Maloney
			Copyright 1993 Frank Maloney

     TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE is a French film directed by Alain
Corneau, from a script by Corneau and Pascal Quignard.  It stars
Jean-Pierre Marielle, Gerard Depardieu, Guillaume Depardieu, Anne
Brochet, and Carole Richert.  Unrated, includes male and female nudity.
In French with English subtitles.

     TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE is as serious, slow-paced, and sadly
beautiful as the viola da gamba music that pervades the film.  The story
of the film concentrates on the conflict between the austere, cenobitic
master of the viola da gamba (the ancestor of the modern cello),
Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe -- whose name is otherwise unknown -- and a
hack seeking fame and fortune in the court of Louis XIV, Marin Marais.
Their personal conflict symbolizes the war between art and commercial
success, a subject as relevant today as in the late 17th Century.

     TOUS LES MATINS has been compared to no great purpose to AMADEUS, a
movie with an entirely different background, tone, style, and focus; the
Mozart of AMADEUS sees no conflict between living like courtier and
being a great artist and the subject of that film is an examination of
the question "What is genius?"  The genius in TOUS LES MATINS lives a
life dedicated to fifteen-hour practice days and rural simplicity; he
refuses to go to Versailles to play for le Roi du Soleil, the Sun King,
just as he refuses to publish his compositions.

     A more useful comparison might be made between TOUS LES MATINS and
BARRY LYNDON, Stanley Kubrick's much maligned masterpiece (okay, so Ryan
O'Neil wasn't the greatest casting choice, but everything else about it
was a stunning experience): both films have a deliberate pace that is
guaranteed to put off most Americans accustomed to the rhythms of TV and
Hollywood movies.  And both films are virtually a series of tableaux
vivants, still lifes recreated on film, with a painterly style of design
and composition and lighting that delights and fascinates from beginning
to end.

     The script, written by the director Alain Corneau and Pascal
Quignard, is based on Quignard's novel.  The film runs 114 minutes, and
you will probably feel either caught up in something you would rather
never end or you will feel every one of those minutes in your keister.
The plot is minimal:  relationships develop and change among the small
cast.  There are few characters outside the principals, there are only a
few moments of humor or sex.  There are long, long head shots, a
voice-over narrative by Depardieu pere, much chiaroscuro, detailed
period accuracy, and wonderful music.  There is also some talk about
what the purpose of music is that helps to clarify to rather mysterious,
unknowable Sainte-Colombe.  And finally, there are some individual
moments that have to be considered small epiphanies for the viewer, as
when Marais leads a full baroque court orchestra in a thumping version
of his most beautiful composition -- an utterly astounding scene
probably by itself worth the price of a ticket for some of us.  Or the
very end of the film, which made me gasp out loud and cry, so moving, so
beautifully earned, so right was it.

     The cast is perfect.  The center is Jean-Pierre Marielle
(Sainte-Colombe), a veteran actor who has appeared in films such as COUP
DE TORCHON and URANUS.  He walks that fine line between sainthood and
madness; he lives to play and retreats from the world into his music and
his visions.  He is not likable, I doubt that any saint would be, but he
is irresistible and powerful.  Anne Brochet, who played Roxanne in the
Depardieu CYRANO DE BERGERAC (1990), is every bit as strong as
Madeleine, Sainte-Colombe's older daughter.  She is the link between her
father and Marais in life and in death.  Carole Richert plays the
younger daughter, the daughter who is not a slave to her father's
obsessions.

     The two Depardieus, father and son, play Marin Marais as the
middle-aged "successful" courtier and as the raw youngster who first
presents himself to become Sainte-Colombe's student.  Gerard Depardieu
puts on a fearless performance, especially the opening sequence, a long
close-up of the ruined face of a failed, foppish man who finally knows
he's a hack, and at the end as he finds and redeems himself.  Guillaume
Depardieu, the 21-year-old son, has a lighter acting style and a strong
resemblance to his famous father as well as to Julian Sands.

     TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE has proved to be an enormous success in
France, where it sold 2 million tickets in a year, sparked a revival of
interest in French baroque music, and won seven Cesars (the French
Oscars) -- best picture, director, music, and supporting actress
(Brochet), amongst them.  The soundtrack featuring the viola da gamba of
Jordi Savali and the music of Marais, Sainte-Colombe, Couperin, and
Lully has been a success in its own right wherever the film has played.

     In the U.S., the film's success will be limited to the art-house
circuit and not even everyone there will like it for its pace and
plotlessness.  For those willing or able, or both, to give TOUS LES
MATINS DU MONDE a chance, the rewards can be enormous.  If you are one
of those, I recommend this film to you most highly.

-- 
Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews