Ângela e Satanaz

Of all the extraordinary personalities to have emerged from the world of film, one of the most extraordinary must surely be Erich von Stroheim. The son of a Jewish hatter, he reinvented himself as an Austrian aristo and officer. His uncompromising directorial career came to an abrupt end when fired from the uncompleted 'Queen Kelly'. Luckily for him and for us his forbidding exterior and military bearing made him eminently suitable for certain roles and he is in his element as a lonely, disfigured engraver in this atmospheric film of Pierre Chenal. Ironically this was released the same year as Cocteau's 'Beauty and the Beast' and represents the other side of the coin. Whereas in Cocteau's film the monster is redeemed by the beauty, here he is destroyed by her. Von Stroheim is both menacing and sympathetic and is perfectly complimented here by the elegant, enigmatic Madeleine Sologne whose character becomes a femme fatale in spite of herself. There is a marvellous turn by Louis Salou as a poetry-loving villain who quotes Haraucourt even as he is dying! The script, camerawork, production design, editing and score are superlative. The climactic sequence in the nightclub is stunning and the final shot of the smiling Jeanne unforgettable. It is not easy to categorise this film if indeed one feels the need to do so. There are various 'styles' at play here that make it so much more than just a 'Noir'. This is undoubtedly the most satisfying of Chenal's films that I have seen thus far.