A summer in France

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Movie
German title A summer in France
Original title L'échelle blanche,
alternatively La Promesse
Country of production France ,
UK
original language French
Publishing year 1969
length 94 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Robert Freeman , Paul Feyder
script Gérard Brach
production Jacques-Éric Strauss
music Antoine Duhamel
camera Peter Biziou
cut Richard Bryan
occupation

A Summer in France (original title: L'échelle blanche , reference title Das Versuche ) is a French - British melodrama by Robert Freeman and Paul Feyder from 1969. The leading roles are starring Jacqueline Bisset , Jean-François Maurin and Marc Porel .

action

Eleven-year-old François lost his parents in an accident and is withdrawing into himself. He has also not got into a car since the tragic incident. He lives in the country with his aunt Florence and uncle Philippe. One day, the young Englishwoman Wendy Sinclair shows up, the ex-girlfriend of his beautiful cousin Olivier. Her refreshing manner brings the boy out of isolation. He secretly takes a bottle of perfume from the young woman and cuts off a lock of hair while she sleeps. A friendship develops between the two of them, which even gives François the courage to get into a car.

Wendy promises to take him to London with her. But then she leaves without keeping her promise. François withdraws back into his world. He pours the stolen perfume over his face.

Production and publication

The film was produced by Les Films du Siècle / Fox Europa. The exterior scenes were made near Arles .

Its first screening in Germany took place on January 19, 1990 in DFF 2 under the television title Das Versuche , on April 18, 1990 the film was broadcast by Pro 7. In the USA it was released on July 9, 1969 under the international title Secret World , in France on July 10, 1969 under the title L'échelle blanche , and in Ireland on April 16, 1971 also under the English title Secret World . The French working title was: "La Promesse".

criticism

“A melodramatic film, superbly photographed and subtle in the character drawing, which carefully traces the secret movements of the human soul with attention to detail. The ambitious attempt to analyze the complex network of relationships between the people reaches its limits where the behavior of adults becomes all too clichéd. "

- Lexicon of international film

Vincent Canby of the New York Times didn’t like the film adaptation by Robert Freeman. This confirms the dark suspicions of a lack of talent that were already circulating in his first film The Touchables . Canby spoke of a cumbersome, empty film about a withdrawn orphan who briefly makes contact with the hostile world of adults, only to then withdraw again, perhaps forever. The critic said that Jacqueline Bisset looked with her blonde wig like Mrs. Onassis with a blonde wig. Pierre Zimmer and Giselle Pascal, who play François' uncle and aunt, would look like Peter Graves and Micheline Presle. Freeman's secret world looks like that of a chic fashion photographer, which he was.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b A summer in France. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed August 28, 2016 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ Vincent Canby: Glimpses of an Orphan's 'Secret World' In: The New York Times, July 10, 1969. Retrieved August 29, 2016.