Maurice Ronet was one of the most talented actors of the late fifties,sixties and seventies and his premature demise was a major loss for the French cinema.His best part,in a brilliant career,might well be that of " Le Feu Follet" from Drieu De La Rochelle,an extremely pessimistic work which tells the last hours of a man about to commit suicide.
"Bartleby" came aside as a shock in the seventies;it was virtually ignored,being too "different" to gain the audience's favor,but the critics were enthused and in 2015,it has a strong cult among cine-buffs. It's Ronet's third effort ,after a first film and a short,both very obscure and it is the movie the actor threatened to make after a work such as Malle 's "Feu Follet" ."Bartleby ",based on a Herman Melville's short story ,appears like a suicide at a slower pace:the hero has always been an outcast,looking for a place he can call his own,or too disgusted by the nine to five routine the clerks "enjoy" in their office to feel like being part of them;the most important moment in the close-up on Bartleby's eyes ;his look does not accuse,judge or rebels against the raw deal he's got.He simply looks at us,our "happiness" ,our "normality".
Apart from Lonsdale ,the actors are cast against type :Biraud and Deschamps were ,by and large,used in (sometimes coarse) comedies;Dominique Zardi was given numerous very small parts in many a Claude Chabrol movie ;as for Maxence Mailfort (Bartleby) ,he is relatively obscure,and it gives more strength to his character;all are masterfully directed and give their best.
Ronet would continue his work on the American literature with a series of Poe's short stories for TV (notably a very original "gold-bug").
Like this ? try these.....
"La Vie A L'Envers " Alain Jessua,1964
"Le Locataire" aka "the tenant" Roman Polanski ,1976.
