Désiré

This movie probably deserves a 6, but I gave it a 7 because it gave me so much pleasure. It is far from a great movie. If it began as a play, I could well believe it: it is, indeed, very talky. And, unlike in Les Perles de la couronne, which is much better and much funnier, there are long speeches. Granted, Guitry delivers them at breakneck speed and yet with total clarity, leaving you astounded, as if you were at the Opera and the soprano had just finished a passage of brilliant fioratura at breakneck speed, with all the notes faultless. It is a bravura performance on his part - hey, he wrote his own lines, and in this movie he gave himself all the good ones - and the other roles are in his shadow. So it is very much worth watching him perform, strange hair and all. He delivers his lines magnificently. But the plot, what little there is, is obvious, the characters not interesting. Pauline Delubac is radiantly beautiful, but she doesn't get much to do in this movie. One feels that she is wasted.

I suppose one could say, to use an over-used metaphor, that it is like a soufflé. Delicious, but basically a puff pastry that leaves little once it has been consumed.