Another movie which proves that Roger Richebé was not the poor director,despised by all his colleagues ;"la grande Maguet " is a Gothic melodrama , a ruthless story of vengeance by a woman , who got a raw deal .
Once upon a time an old fool , a servant who was waiting for her master and his new bride in a gloomy castle .
Unexpectedly, the shrew kidnaps the bride and locks her in the castle ; then begins a tale of hate , flashbacks and frequent returns to the present;Marc -Gilbert sauvageon's lines do not cut,they bite .
La Maguet was a foundling, who was taken in a boarding-school for girls ;but one of the headmistresses (Silvia Montfort,at her most hateful) insists she" live on our charity" ,and she's a humiliated servant, the students' punching-bag ; one of them takes pity on the miserable Cinderella, and when she marries a cynical noble,she becomes her protégée and her confidant,much to the husband's displeasure;shortly after ,unfortunately, both women are tossed by the tides of misfortune.
Madeleine Robinson, only 31 , looks twenty years older ; her prematurely aged face reflects her hate for the whole world as she mistreats the hapless bride who keeps asking her :"what did I do to you? What did I do to deserve death?"Madeleine Robinson was one of these actresses who did not think twice when it came to being made look ugly ,unkempt .Every performance (from Autant-Lara,Grémillon, Decoin ,Calef,Delannoy to NV Chabrol ,even Welles!)has its riveting moment ,one that'll take your breath away.
And the ending ,both moral and immoral, is the best which could perfectly fit a Gothic tale.
