A director is to film Chekhov's " three sisters" and he is looking for locations in the splendid landscapes of Switzerland.Up come his three actresses ,one of whom is his former wife.The Italian one was foisted by the Producer.And the third one is young girl,a beginner.
It deals with a subject the old glorious cinema had already treated,notably "Les Enfants Du Paradis" :playing a part refers to life and vice versa;the rare scenes they rehearse mix with real life sentences and the viewer cannot always tell the difference between a line in the script and the actors' words.
I must confess I Watched that because of Delphine Seyrig and Lea Massari;without them,I would have given up long before the end.Michel Soutter is a psychic son of the French Nouvelle Vague and his movie suffers accordingly (to these eyes of course):loose screenplay (The director makes sincere attempts to learn the Russian language,Delphine Seyrig,true to herself,blames his macho side whereas he longs for a youth slipping away),persons busy contemplating their navel living in a privileged world,fortune- cookie philosophies -would be deep meaningful and intimate-.Strangely,the movie ends with an instrumental version of the old folk song "Si Tu Veux Faire Mon Bonheur"(=if you want to make me happy)
I know many people will disagree ,but I say it again:it's an intellectual movie for intellectual people ;if you like Eric Rohmer ,you will be delighted ;as for me ,I like Mrs Seyrig best when she works with Bunuel or Demy.
