The Wanderer

It is a tragedy that this quite remarkable film remains virtually unknown and unobtainable. I have a VHS version that plays in B&W without subtitles. bought at the Alain-Fournier museum in France. It crops up at art houses as The Wanderer and may be obtainable on DVD under this name. It has never, to my knowledge, been shown on British television.

This film changed my life. The first time I saw it, back in about 1983, I sat through it twice in a row. I subsequently read the book, visited the locations in the film, all of them connected with the author, and wrote one of the several stage musicals based on the work.

What is most remarkable about the film is not just the visual intensity and dream-like camera-work - Vaseline on the lens for the strange domain itself - or the romantic and memorable score , but the quality of the performances from a largely unknown, in some cases amateur cast. Not only the luminous Brigitte Fossey, but a stunning performance from the young Alain Libolt, who appeared recently in Erich Rohmer's A Tale of Autumn. Meaulnes himself is unforgettably personified by a young man from Bourges hand-picked by the author's niece, Madame Isabelle Riviere, who oversaw the production. His name: Jean Blaise. He may to my knowledge have made only one film, but it is a performance that few trained actors could ever hope to equal. The final scenes are especially moving.

If you get a chance to see this, drop everything and go.

Andrew Lowe Watson

I have been looking for a copy of this movie for over 10 years.

I remember some of the scenes, the light, the colours. Our group of friends, and one especially who is about the best photographer in the world, had gone to new york city to view this movie. I am still, 40 years later, viewing that movie in my mind. I see that this film has affected many viewers the same way. This movie was so visual it was tactile. why can't I find this movie again? WAhhhhh!!!

Its has to be an incredible movie to stick with you for over 40 years in such a strong way. If anyone has a copy of it or knows where to find a copy hopefully with subtitles, please let me know. I would ever be so grateful. Regards, sheri

This is one of those rare films that stays on your mind for years, even though you might not remember much about it anymore. I saw this in 1998-only once-but sometimes find myself thinking about it. I remember walking out of the theater right after I saw it and feeling different than I did two hours earlier. Aside from Alain Fournier's excellent story, I think the film just conveys a particular mood really well--you feel affected and somewhat hypnotized by the movie. I can't say that I've had that experience very many times. I have tried to find this film on VHS several times over the past few years, but have not been successful (although I see that Amazon might have, at one time, offered it). Anybody with information on how I might obtain this amazing movie, please let me know.

After years of looking, I found the DVD of Le Grand Meaulnes sitting on the shelf in Virgin Megastore on the Champs Elysees in Paris. It seems to have been recently published. It's in French of course and without sub titles but if you know the film, then you know the book too and don't need the English. There is some biographical material about Alain-Fournier on the DVD plus the original cinema trailer (and even a bonus second DVD, La Fille aux Yeux D'or, also by Albicocco).

I saw the film of Le Grand Meaulnes back in 1973/4 and again sometime during the Eighties at a London screening. It is still as fresh, original and magical now as it was then. In some respects, the 1972 Nicholas Roeg film of Don't Look Now, also a classic of its kind, has some echoes of this Albicocco masterpiece - mainly in the use of light and its effects, but also in some scenes: a red brooch is held to the light, the passing boats on the lake, Yvonne de Galais falling in the stream, the time shifts in the narrative.

I saw LGM in French with subtitles (and two years of high school French!). It felt like a pleasant dream (visual, ideas), and I remembered it quite well -- but I had forgotten the title. I described it to a French friend several years later, and he named it for me right away. If I see it advertised for a theatre again, I'll definitely go, now that my French is a little better and my appreciation of fantasy much enhanced.