Remous

In his absorbing "Voyage A Travers Le cinema Français ",Bertrand Tavernier devoted a whole chapter to Edmond T GReville whose work is not very known in France ;with the exceptions of "Menaces" and "L'Envers Du Paradis" ,none of the works I've seen ("brief ecstasy" "secret life" "Le Port Du Désir" "Les Menteurs" "L'accident") really filled me with enthusiasm.But Tavernier talks about two very attracting movies : "Le Diable Soufflé " is ,alas,nowhere to be seen.But " Remous " was recently released on DVD .

"Remous" is certainly the best movie Greville produced in the thirties,even superseding "Menaces " ;the subject was,for the time, absolutely scandalous and they call a spade a spade: the word 'impotence" is uttered and the wife's sexual frustration is depicted as strongly as the times (mid-thirties) allowed :read the trivia on the main page at a time the Hayes Code was ruling;and do not forget that DH Lawrence 's "Lady Chatterley 's lover " was forbidden in the US.And that the first film based on it was made in France in 1955 in a watered-down adaptation.

Symbolism is certainly subtle : pictures of the sea waters (and its "swirls"= that's what's the title means),of the broken record (a piece of which both lovers pick up)and of the nervous sleepless wife at night;and if it were not enough, the husband ,an engineer ,is building a dam.Besides,the ending takes place on it.

Françoise Rosay provides the movie with a comic relief ,but it does not really interest the director who has only eyes for his characters' tragedy .

Bertrand Tavernier is right: its release on DVD is cause for celebration.Now,roll on "Le Diable Soufflé"