Heartbeat

...Françoise Sagan!It takes a genius of a director to successfully adapt one of her airport novels.It happened once with "bonjour tristesse" ,because of M.Preminger and his interprets Deborah Kerr,Jean Seberg and David Niven.It never happened again .

It is cinema with the feeling and sincerity of cellophane .The terrible human problem which tortures the heroine is: can money buy happiness? Shall I live with a young reporter or shall I stay with a still handsome greybeard ? Shall I have to work and give up my idleness?You've got the picture?

Catherine Deneuve achieves a minor tour de force by turning this futile superficial boring young girl into an endearing character.That does not make "la chamade " a good film for all that.As far as the French bourgeoisie depictions are concerned,you'll always be better off with Claude Chabrol 's works,particularly "la femme infidèle" (1968)

Alain Cavalier began quite well with two political movies "l'insoumis"(1964) and "le combat dans l'île"(1961),then got lost before redeeming himself in the eighties with "un étrange voyage" (1980) and chiefly his wonderful "Thérèse"(1986) which will probably remain his masterpiece.