Sadly, it has been all but forgotten, and remains entirely unknown in America.(the precedent user).Even in its native France ,the movie is currently ignored;it's never screened on TV whereas other Jobert's movies ("Dernier Domicile Connu" "Le Passager De La Pluie" "Folle A Tuer" or even the too overlooked "Decade Prodigieuse" ) enjoy frequent broadcasts ;however ,it was widely talked about when it was released and Albertine Sarrazin's book became a best seller overnight;it got a NC -18 ,which prevented many cine buffs,including myself, from seeing it .
Marlène Jobert's acting,a Cesar-caliber performance is still impressive today as though the part was tailor made for her,it put her on the map and made her a major star of the first half of the seventies (God'art 's "Masculin-feminin",(1966)reserved for highbrows, could not have thrust her into the mainstream anyway.Jobert would never try again this kind of part of a girl who got a raw deal(Sarrazin died at 29,after burning the candle at both ends),as though she had realized she could not outdo herself in this field;she retired at an early age ,like Brigitte Bardot,devoting her time to writing book for children.
Guy Casaril got a very bad reputation in France ,and it's perhaps that which has tarnished "L'Astragale" by association (with such dreadful stuff as " Les Novices" "Les Pétroleuses" and the first "Piaf" biopic).
"L'Astragale" was remade this very year ,but it did not seem to have touched public imagination the way the 1968 version did.
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