The eternal ban
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The eternal ban |
| Original title | L'éternel return |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 1943 |
| length | 102 (Germany) 115 (France) minutes |
| Age rating | JMK from 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jean Delannoy |
| script | Jean Cocteau |
| production | André Paulvé |
| music | Georges Auric |
| camera |
Roger Hubert G.R. Aldo |
| cut | Suzette Fauvel |
| occupation | |
| |
The Eternal Ban is a French feature film from 1943 directed by Jean Delannoy based on a screenplay by Jean Cocteau . It is based on the myth of Tristan and Isolde and made leading actor Jean Marais a star and Muse Cocteau overnight.
action
The story of Tristan and Isolde was moved to the modern age.
One day, the young Patrice meets the blonde Nathalie when he saves her from a drunken thug in a harbor bar. He is injured in the leg by a thrown knife and loses consciousness. When the fair-haired, handsome young man wakes up on his bed again, Nathalie is at his side. He persuades her to become the wife of his uncle Marc, a well-off lord of the castle, whom he greatly admires. Marc is much older than Nathalie. The young woman, who from then on feels drawn to the angelic Patrice, agrees for his sake despite all disappointment. But there is a curse on this arrangement from the start. The hostile relatives want to prevent this new connection with all their might. Driven by hatred, the small Achilles, a cousin of Patrices, is the main thwart of the arranged marriage. Achille hates Patrice because he embodies everything he will never be: Patrice is tall, beautiful, blonde and is loved by everyone. Achille, grouched and crushed by his dominant mother and at a loss for any intrigue, plans to poison Patrice and Nathalie. But instead of the contents of a poison ampoule, the two young people swallow a love potion. On a thunderstorm night at the castle in front of the flickering log fire, they finally realize that they are made for each other. Achille, who at the moment of the premature triumph throws the emptied “poison bottle” at them, observes the newly won happiness with steadily increasing resentment.
In order not to see his plan fail, Achille, in cooperation with his no less envious mother, spins a new intrigue. At the moment when Patrice and Nathalie are in their bedroom and kiss tenderly, he manages to guide Marc there. He is very disappointed by the alleged breach of loyalty to Patrices and his future family and expels both of his castle. The young people experience a brief period of happiness together in a snow-covered mountain hut, with only the loyal family dog Moulou at their side. But Marc doesn't really want to do without Nathalie, drives up to the hut and asks her to come back to him at the moment of Patrice's absence. With a heavy heart, she goes with Marc while Patrice is running errands downstairs in the village. When he returns home at dusk, his love is already gone. Patrice doesn't want to give up his Nathalie under any circumstances. Accompanied by his good friend Lionel, with whom and his girlfriend, the brunette Nathalie, he most recently stayed, Patrice approaches the castle one night. With his own art of chirping birds, he tries to get his Nathalie noticed. But only Moulou, who happily runs towards him, and Achille wake up. Achille now wants to finish off Patrice for good and aims at him with a rifle. Then he pulls the trigger. Seriously injured, Patrice escapes with the help of Lionel. In his friend's house, which is directly on the water, he is delusional, while dark-haired Nathalie pretends to be Patrice's blonde Nathalie and communicates with Patrice, who is barely accessible. Lionel picks up blonde Nathalie and Marc from the castle. He drives the two of them to his house with his boat cutter before it comes to an end with Patrice. At the last moment Nathalie, accompanied by Uncle Marc, rushes to his deathbed. But he is already dead. When Nathalie sees his body, she sits down on his deathbed by his side. Lionel and Marc stand in front of it.
Production notes
The world premiere of The Eternal Bann took place on October 13, 1943 in Paris . The film was shown for the first time in Germany in May 1946. The title is based on one of Friedrich Nietzsche's central ideas about the Eternal Second Coming .
The films are made by Georges Wakhévitch , the costumes by Georges Annenkov .
As with The Night with the Devil , Marc Fossard also served here as a simple cameraman, Roger Hubert was the chief surgeon .
The diminutive Piéral, who had already participated in André Paulvé's production The Night with the Devil , played his first leading role here.
criticism
Reclam's guide states: “The film is filled with mysterious sensations and dark feelings; it is certainly largely determined by its author Cocteau. The rigid beauty of lovers, the corridors of an old castle, waving curtains, the sudden appearance of the dwarf - all of this conjures up a world of penumbra and dreams. The connection between myth and reality is also quite clever; For example, it is never quite clear whether the love potion is to be taken literally or only meant as a symbol. "
In the biography of Jean Delannoy in Das Großes Personenlexikon des Films : “With his next work, for which he was able to win Jean Cocteau as an author, he also succeeded in an exceptional artistic work. 'The Eternal Ban' varied the old 'Tristan and Isolde' motif. With its gloomy basic mood, an undercooled, rigid elegance and beauty and a morbid longing for death, 'The Eternal Spell' can be rated as a typical product of the French occupation-era cinema. "
The Lexicon of International Films wrote: “Delannoy, for whom Jean Cocteau transposed the mythical story of Tristan and Isolde into the present, made a very serious, sometimes melancholy film, not least with the excellent dialogues of Cocteau, in which the decorations from Georges Wakhevitch and the music of Georges Auric play a major dramaturgical role. The subject matter and nuances make the film an important document in French cinema under the occupation from 1940 to 1944. "
Heinrich Fraenkels “Immortal Film. The great chronicle. From the first sound to the colored wide screen ”recalled another important aspect: the fact that it was difficult to assess French films under German domination, especially since The Eternal Bann had two protagonists who corresponded to the Nazi ideal of the Nordic-blond Aryan:“ How much they The factual judgment of a film was colored by political considerations at the time, results conversely from the fact that the same director Jean Delannoy may not be in France, where he was considered a national hero as the creator of the 'Pontcarral', but in England because of the supposedly 'collaborationist' 'Tendency of his' L'Éternel Retour' was attacked. It was claimed that the film adaptation of 'Tristan and Isolde' based on a manuscript by Jean Cocteau was a glorification of the 'Nordic' myth and thus an ingratiation to the Nazis. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Reclams Filmführer , by Dieter Krusche, collaboration: Jürgen Labenski, Stuttgart 1973, p. 301.
- ↑ Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 2: C - F. John Paddy Carstairs - Peter Fritz. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 332.
- ↑ Klaus Brüne (Red.): The Lexicon of International Films. Volume 2, Reinbek near Hamburg 1987, p. 932.
- ↑ Immortal Film. Munich 1957, p. 128.