Le diable au corps

it is not say why. sure, for Gerard Philipe and for the ideal director for Radiguet adaptation. for beautiful flash backs and for the bitter taste of the end. for Micheline Presle and for of romanticism who , defining the period of a war, gives right perspective about the expectations after the end of the other. it is a film who you feel more than see. because it gives entire force of a novel, the spirit of an young writer, the genius of a great actor and the French respiration of tragic stories about love, errors, fear and fall.so, a gem. a real special one.

Why 9 instead of 10? Because films seen long ago are not always, on re-viewing, as good as they seemed at the time, when one was younger; and I have no idea whether or not this will be the case here. The restaurant scene in which Philipe, to impress Presle, returns the wine lingers still in my memory as both comic and touching. I don't remember when I saw it (and returned to see it again). While I think I was between 18 and 21, I may have been older. Needless to say, I loved it. I even went to the library and read the Radiguet book on which it was based. More recently, I've searched for it on VHS and DVD. No luck. With The Charterhouse of Parma and Fanfan the Tulip now out on DVD, perhaps this one will appear soon. And The Red and the Black not cut for US distribution. One can only hope.

I am very glad to hear that a restored version of this beautiful and moving film is finally available! Having read the book at the age of sixteen ( MANY years ago! ) I was very surprised that the hero's feelings of intensely conflicting emotions were so perfectly conveyed - I shouldn't have been surprised seeing as it was the great Gerard Philipe. All we can hope for now is that this version will be made available on DVD as the only version around at the moment is a dubbed one. Let us also hope that more French films made in the era before the so called "New Wave" will be released so that a new generation (and the odd old fogey)can enjoy some great film making!

The star of this film, Micheline Presle, has passed away.

I watched this film a year ago and I couldn't believe how fresh, how not-boring, how full of emotions were all these films made before the New Wave. What was New Wave trying to fix, anyway? Perhaps only the production design costs.

This film about a younger man dating older woman sets an ominous tone right from the start. It's Gerard Philipe's acting that gives away the immaturity of the young man. It's not that he is so much younger than her, it's just that he's too young to act maturely, to be able to make decisions and stick to them. He's a child. Back then, this story was scandalous, today it would even be criminal. I enjoyed every minute of it! The cinematography is such that one can feel Gerard Philipe's skin when Micheline Presle caresses him. What more could you want?

This was on BBC television, dubbed into English, in the early sixties. No other film has had quite the same effect. I remember begging my father not to start watching the film as it was already 10.15 p.m. and we had to get up the next day for school and work respectively. In the end we were totally captivated by the harrowing story of a young man (Gérard Philipe) who causes the death, through adultery, of the wife of a serving WW1 soldier.

Particularly memorable is the use of flashbacks, introduced by the eerie sound of church bells winding down, as one might slow down a gramophone record, and the historical background, including a scene of premature celebration of the end of the war.

It is sad that the director, Claude Autant-Lara, turned out to be the French equivalent of a Nazi, and you wonder if that fact has led to a virtual embargo on the film, and that is why it seems to have disappeared. That is a pity. If that criterion were applied to works of art in general then a number of books or pieces of music, or whatever, would be banned because of the activities or opinions of their creators. 'Devil in the Flesh' is a shattering masterpiece, and deserves to be seen again. It is my favourite film of all time.