The presence of Emmanuelle Béart and of Isabelle Huppert in the credits and the fact that 'Les destinées sentimentales' is directed by Olivier Assayas were enough to convince me to see this film, despite its daunting three-hour length. Made in 2000, the film is an exception in Assayas' film career and a production quite atypical of the French film school in general. It is a period film, an almost Dickensian adaptation of the novel by a French writer, Jacques Chardonne, a controversial personality because of his collaborationist positions adopted duringWWII. My decision to watch the film paid off, the solid narrative, the fine acting and many beautiful cinematographic moments made the viewing an enjoyable and interesting experience despite its length.
The story takes place between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 1930s. Reading Chardonne's biography I learned that the two families that the heroes of the book belong to are a fictional transposition of the branches of the writer's family, manufacturers of cognac and porcelain from the Limoges region, raised in the Protestant faith which was and is a minority in France. Jean Barnery, the main hero, a pastor in a rural community, disowns his first wife, whom he suspects of infidelity, only to fall himself in love with the young and beautiful Pauline, who has returned from her studies in England. Out of love for her, he renounces his life as a priest, remarries and leaves in exile to Switzerland, leading a simple life with Pauline and treating the tuberculosis that had almost killed him. Upon the death of his father, he is called to take over the management of the porcelain factory, an aging enterprise with a tradition of quality, but in great need of modernization and adaptation to the production norms and labor relations of the 20th century. His whole life reflects the dilemmas between love and duty, between passion and the moral and social principles assimilated through education and tradition. The world around Jean and Pauline evolves and changes radically: the capitalist economy with the competition and the socialist influence in the factories, the war, the great economic crisis. What is left in the end?
Most movies that are three hours long tried my patience and in the end I found them too long. That didn't happen with 'Les destinées sentimentales', even though it's not a thriller or a sci-fi film that would keep me nailed to my seat through thrilling or dynamic action, on the contrary, it's a drama that builds patiently, at its own pace. The historical topic is of course one of the reasons, including the Protestant perspective on a fascinating period of French history, a perspective about which I know very little. The interpretation of the actors also plays an important role. Emmanuelle Béart is simply formidable - beautiful, sensitive, in devoted love. It's one of her best roles, and I can't even fault the director for choosing not to age her too much with make-up at the end of the nearly 40 years the story spans. For Charles Berling - an understated and solid actor - it is the opportunity to play an exceptional leading role, and this is for him probably also a career peak. Isabelle Huppert is too little present, the role of the first wife has too few lines and screen time, and I can only regret it. The first wife's fidelity in her youth remains shrouded in mystery, as does her attachment to Jean thereafter. I must mention the name of the cinematographer Eric Gautier, who together with Olivier Assayas creates an absolutely formidable visual approach, in which the camera has no rest, following the words, the heroes and their experiences. Some viewers will read into the story a somewhat too tolerant approach to the hero's harsh capitalism, but this is more about the way the writer chose to portray his hero.
'Les destinées sentimentales' includes a ballroom scene which seems to be a homage paid by the director to Visconti and his film 'The Leopard' - one of the masterpieces of the period cinema. Olivier Assayas seems to have told is - 'this is the model from which we started, but we ended up somewhere else entirely in this cinematic genre'. His bold attempt is largely successful.
