La sirène du Mississipi

On the surface, Francois Truffaut's Mississippi Mermaid is a taut, well- made Hitchcockian thriller that features good looking actors (including the alluring, icy blonde), exciting chases and bizarre circumstances. However, Truffaut gives the story his own twist by focusing on the characteristic of obsession and how it claws at the protagonist and affects his judgment.

Jean-Paul Belmondo puts aside his typical suave and cool demeanor to play a wealthy but lonely and somewhat naive tobacco plantation owner who puts in a request for a mail-order bride, only to discover that she looks like Catherine Deneuve. Naturally, he is taken under her spell and soon discovers she is much more duplicitous than he expected. Many film lovers may know this story better as it was remade in 2001 with Antonio Banderas and Angelina Jolie as Original Sin. Despite having not seen that film, I am confident it cannot be better than this version for two reasons. First of all, Truffaut is a much better director, able to seemingly tie all these various strings together into a coherent and plausible story. Second, there is no way Banderas and Jolie could match the sizzling chemistry between Belmondo and Deneuve. They are capable of being remarkably sexy and sultry without resorting to complete nakedness. This is a sign of true thespian abilities.

While not one of Truffaut's stronger works such as his Antoine Doinel series or Jules and Jim, it is still an entertaining romantic thriller that manages to be both romantic and thrilling. Given the status of many of these types of films recently, there is plenty of reason to revisit this New Wave example.

I have to give Director Truffaut the benefit of the doubt here because he's obviously not stupid. So my best guess is that this strange creation is a sort of tone poem to the power of the femme fatale. That is what Catherine Deneuve plays, and despite being swindled nearly to penury by her, the Jean-Paul Belmondo character keeps coming back for more.

There are a few clichés which come to mind, but "Love is Blind" is ironically the most apt, for it is the irresistible beauty of Deneuve that prevents her mail-order husband from accepting the truth. She lied before, so why not again, and again, and again? Clearly the relationship is doomed, but the illusion continues on for now, strengthened by the sacrifice already made on her behalf...

Welcome to the story of a single but very rich man who finally is going to marry a woman that he never saw in an arranged marriage, and it will turned out to be an astonishing surprise, after he discovers how beautiful this woman is, and then it will be a living nightmare when she reveals through strange actions that she's not the one he would marry. This story is more familiar to new audiences who might have watched the horrendous "Original Sin" (2001) with Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas in the main roles. The only vantage that the remake has over Truffaut's film is the awesome sex scenes which makes voyeuristic viewers go crazy over the bold moments of a poor film.

The French version has Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Paul Belmondo in a more romantic story that breaks into a good thriller. It has some weak moments but still a good film that is directed by one of the most incredible and hard working directors of all time. The performers are elegant, and the way both actors portray their roles, in a mysterious and complex style makes of "Mississippi Mermaid" a very intriguing film where the next moment is the most interesting, the most awaited, it's full of surprises (by the way the ending is different than the one unbelievably made in the remake).

Watch it without creating too much expectations and you'll enjoy it. 9/10

In Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, the owner of a cigarette factory Louis Mahé (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is engaged through correspondence with Julie Roussel and he does not know her. When Julie arrives in the island to get married with Louis, he waits for her in the docks but Louis does not recognize Julie in the passenger vessel and finds that she is totally different from the picture she had sent to Louis. They get married and Louis shares his bank accounts with her. When Julie's sister writes a letter to Louis asking her sister to write to her, Louis discovers that the woman is not Julie that is missing. Further, he finds that the woman has cleared his bank accounts and left the island. Louis and Julie's sister hire an efficient private detective Comolli (Michel Bouquet) and Louis travels to France seeking the woman, but he has a nervous breakdown in Nice and is submitted to an intense sleeping therapy in a clinic. He recovers and finds that the woman, actually Marion Vergano (Catherine Deneuve), works in the Phoenix Club Privé in Antibes and lives in the low-budget Monorail Hotel. Louis breaks in her room and when she arrives from the club, she tells that she was happy with him but her former dangerous lover Richard had blackmailed her. Louis is still in love with Marion and escapes with her to the countryside. But Comolli is chasing Marion in France accused of murdering Julie.

"La Sirène du Mississipi" is a film-noir by the great director/writer François Truffaut, with an unconventional love story of passion, murder and love that hurts. The femme fatale Catherine Deneuve is astonishing, probably in the top of her beauty and is delightful to see her face and the topless scenes on the road and in the room. Jean-Paul Belmondo is very athletic, and the sequence when he escalates the wall of the hotel is impressive. Catherine Deneuve makes this film worth and gives credibility to the passion and lust of Louis. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Sereia do Mississipi" ("The Mississippi Mermaid")

This agreeable French movie deals about a millionaire owner of a tobacco factory on an African island nearly to Madagascar named Louis(Jean Paul Belmondo). He's a single man looking wife, then he advertises a bride and gets a gorgeous woman named Julia(Catherine Deneuve). When she spontaneously appears turns out to be much more attractive than expected. He marries to Julia but she suddenly disappears.A French eye private(Michael Bouquet) is hired by Julia's sister and soon he's on the trail of his previous spouse. Later Louis encounters her in a dancing-hall under another name. In spite of the romantic delusion and everything, Louis goes on enamored with his enigmatic wife.

This film is a splendid drama plenty of betrayal,deception, killing, theft and Hitchcockian suspense. Good performances by Jean Paul Belmondo as young proprietary of a cigarette company who seems determined to fall under the spell of a femme fatale and a wonderful Catherine Deneuve as suspect heroine. The film gets several references to the American cinema, but Truffaut(400 blows) was a fervent moviegoer, such as : Johnny Guitar, Colorado Jim, Bogart, and Hitchcock.The USA version was cut numerous minutes and deserves an urgent restoring and remastering. Loosely based on the novel titled'Waltz into darkness' by Cornell Woolrich (Rear window and screenwriter of Alfred Hitchcock hour) who also was adapted in 'Truffaut's The bride wore black'.Colorful cinematography by Denys Clerval(Stolen kisses) and atmospheric musical score by Antoine Duhamel, Truffaut's usual musician.This is one of the best of his suspense movies along with ¨Farenheit 451 and Shoot the piano player¨. Remade by an inferior version by Michael Christofer(2001) with Antonio Banderas, Angelina Jolie and Jack Thompson, full of erotic and lust scenes.