The night with the devil

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title The night with the devil
too The devil does the honor
Original title Les visiteurs du soir
Country of production France
original language French
Publishing year 1942
length 121 minutes
Age rating JMK from 12
Rod
Director Marcel Carné
script Jacques Prévert
Pierre Laroche
production André Paulvé
music Maurice Thiriet
camera Roger Hubert
cut Henri Rust
occupation

and in small roles: Alain Resnais , Jean Carmet , Jean-Pierre Mocky , Marcel Mouloudji and Jacques Prévert.

The night with the devil (alternative title: The devil does the honors ) is a French feature film from 1942 by Marcel Carné with Arletty and Alain Cuny in the leading roles.

action

France in the late Middle Ages . The early widowed Baron Hugues organized a festival in May 1485 on the occasion of the engagement of his daughter Anne to Baron Renaud, who obviously loved the craft of war and hunting more than his future wife. A number of minstrels, including two lute players named Gilles and Dominique, have gathered for entertainment. Nobody suspects what is hidden behind their masks of musical diversion - in truth, the two are emissaries of the devil. On behalf of their Lord, they are to carry evil out into the world. The moment they enter the castle, they use their power of seduction to cause strife in the future bride and groom. With his sung songs, Gilles quickly casts a spell over the bride, who listens to his voice completely beguiled.

Both Hugues and Renaud succumb to the beguiling Dominique, who carries out her task of captivating both men with cold-smiling, cunning artistry. Dominique sows conflict between the two men who are now competing with each other, each of them wanting her to himself. When the guests go hunting, delicate bonds develop between Gilles, the other envoy, and Anne, the bride-to-be. Both kiss in the great outdoors on a flower meadow at a small romantic fountain. Gilles forgets his sinister intention to steal the purity of the young innocence with his seductive arts. Both begin to fall seriously in love with each other. That doesn't fit the devil's concept at all, and so one night he appears in the castle with a dark rumble of thunder as accompanying music. He is welcomed by the host, Baron Hugues, and is very elegantly dressed, perfectly formed and amiable - completely master of the world, full of witty cynicisms and subtle remarks. The strange guest has nothing good in mind. The devil is now trying everything in his power to destroy the love that is developing between Anne and Gilles and to separate the two young people from each other.

He ensures that Gilles and Anne are caught in their intimate togetherness, whereupon Gilles is arrested, mistreated and thrown into the castle dungeon. Anne and Renaud's engagement was broken off that same night. The devil himself is so fascinated by Anne's purity that he decides to win her over at all costs. Every means is right for him to divide her and Gilles. He always beguiles her, but Anne only hears the voice of Gilles, who is in chains, calling for her. In a vision the devil has them put in chains and both of them return to their flower meadow immediately afterwards. There he shows in the reflection of the water in the fountain what has happened in the meantime at the palace. Hugues and Renaud duel with him and Dominique as amused spectators in a knightly sword fight for life and death. Contrary to expectations, the older of the two men, the somewhat weaker-looking lord of the castle, Hugues, wins, while Renaud is killed in battle.

Anne is heartbroken and so is her father. Dominique confesses her sinister intent to Baron Hugues and rides out of the castle into the open. In spite of everything, Hugues cannot leave her and rides after her. Meanwhile, Anne agrees to follow the devil - if only he can see that Gilles gets out of the dungeon. In fact, the devil frees Gilles from his chains, but the devil loses all his memory of his love for Anne through the power of the devil. Now she no longer sees herself bound by her promise and makes it clear to the devil that she can never love him. He is stunned, because in his eyes she was absolute purity and innocence. But Anne says to the devil with a cold smile in the face that she lied to him with her promise. It goes away, and the devil has to realize at the same time that sincere, deeply felt love cannot be corrupted or destroyed. At the fountain, where Gilles and Anne once fell in love, their love for each other awakens again. But the devil takes terrible vengeance. He turns Anne and Gilles into stone monuments in order to destroy their love for good. But love is stronger than hate, the devil hears their hearts keep beating under the stone. He beats the statues beside himself with anger.

Production notes

The film was shot from April to September 1942 in Nice , a part of France that was still unoccupied by German troops at the time. The night with the devil premiered on December 5, 1942 in Paris . The film premiered in post-war Germany on April 22, 1950, and in Austria on January 25, 1946 under the alternative title Die Satansboten . On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the world premiere, the restored film was released again on December 19, 2012.

The diminutive Piéral played its first role here.

Marc Fossard served chief surgeon Roger Hubert as a simple cameraman.

The films were made by Georges Wakhévitch with the help of Léon Barsacq and Alexandre Trauner . Trauner was not named in the opening credits because at this point in time, as a Jew in Vichy France, which was not yet occupied by Germany, he could not appear openly without danger.

As the Italian film magazine "Film", which appears in Rome, reported in its July 1, 1943 issue in the "Paris News" section, the main actress Arletty was entitled to a fee of 400,000 francs under the contract. Ultimately, she is said to have received 900,000 FF.

criticism

Reclam's guide states: “While this film, which was made at the time of the occupation of France, is for some a document of inner emigration, others see it as an encrypted political film. For them the devil is Hitler, and the heart that beats on in the statues is the heart of France for them. More convincing than these allusions, however, is the treatment of Carné's favorite subject, the struggle between good and evil, in a completely transformed milieu, the atmosphere of which he captured convincingly with economical means. "

In the biography of Marcel Carné, the film's large personal dictionary also points to the ambiguity of the film and wrote: “With“ The Night with the Devil ”, on the surface, a mediaeval work about Satan and the power and indestructibility of love was created. however, Carné's allusive stripes can also be seen as a parable of the time under the German occupation. "

In Bucher's encyclopedia of the film you can read: “This allegorical fantasy film, shot during the occupation, was originally planned by Prévert as a contemporary paraphrase of Hitler and the limits of his power. However, the censorship forced a relocation back to the Middle Ages, from which the legend originates, and thus made the parallels almost unrecognizable. The film, whose formalized beauty and coolness in staging and presentation [...] provides a highly effective contrast to the emotionally charged story, above all as a convincing evocation of a fantasy world. "

The lexicon of international film wrote: “Carné's great stylistic mastery, which distinguishes this film, turns out to be a“ devilish ruse ”in its dazzling work, which during the time of the occupation made directors resort to medieval material to - very veiled - artistic To resist. Particularly noteworthy are the extraordinary decorations by Wakhevitch and Trauner and the clearly pointed dialogues by Prévert / Laroche. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ according to Bogusław Drewniak: The German Film 1938-1945, An overview. Düsseldorf 1987. p. 168
  2. ↑ Reclams Filmführer, by Dieter Krusche, collaboration: Jürgen Labenski. Pp. 587 f., Stuttgart 1973.
  3. ↑ 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 1: A - C. Erik Aaes - Jack Carson. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 680.
  4. ↑ Bucher's Encyclopedia of Films, Verlag CJ Bucher, Lucerne and Frankfurt / M. 1977, p. 833.
  5. ↑ Klaus Brüne (Red.): Das Lexikon des Internationale Films, Volume 6, P. 2714, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1987

Web links