Devil in the Flesh

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?

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.

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.

This brilliant adaptation by Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost of eighteen year old Raymond Radiguet's controversial novel published shortly before his death of typhoid fever, provoked no less a scandal when first released, being described by self-appointed guardians of morality as 'sordid, suggestive' and even 'a flood of filth'. Such opinions of course only served to increase public interest, the film gained international recognition and established Gérard Philippe as THE romantic actor of his generation.

The exceptionally gifted Philippe initially expressed reluctance to play Francois as he felt that he was too old for the role. He succeeds however in portraying the turmoil of adolescence and to have cast an immature teenage actor in the part would have been unthinkable. His leading lady, Micheline Presle, although roughly the same age, has a maturity way beyond her years and this exquisite artiste's performance as Marthe is deeply touching. Great support is provided by Denise Grey and the always-good-value Jean Debucourt.

Always one to challenge conventional morality, this is arguably Claude Autant-Lara's finest achievement, aided immeasurably by Michel Kelber's somber cinematography, Max Douy's atmospheric sets, René Cloerec's passionate score and the screenplay by Aurenche and Bost which depicts this love affair as 'a sand castle which the tide will carry away.'

Best to leave the final words to the director: "It was not an easy film to make but we claim the merit of handling the story without flinching."

Micheline Presle(1922-2024) "May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."

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.