| OCR Text |
Show T L Q fGViW The Daily Utah Chronicle, October : ljde-artistic in black and white ByLesStandiford t Rride Wore Black," ''"Tbe at the Tower S natural order of tiff! lie twist, five men lDi ursue the fairer the quarry of one d Julie Kohler, the f ved by Jean Moreau, j Tn to leap out her ' ln2w He? mother :i tempt, however, and J fhter leaves home, iwonherquest. J White Vision ti nt next scene shows Julie a white appearing & at an engagement party S5h Since Mr. Kte .n s j jer of women, he allows e tobechannedoutontoa c iy where she unexphcably Mm to his death, h why? Through Mis s motivation through flash g Six years ago, the five men I pursues were party to the i of her husband, shot m the s as the bride and groom a 'Mended the church steps o blowing their wedding. It seems a tie five, who were interested a "hunting and women," were idling around with a rifle in an ( ailment near the church when n went off. n x Two To Go ' ice society prevented her ton suicide, says Julie, she . decided to do what she had e to reap her own revenge. Now, after six years of sleuthing, she has found her men and has only two victims remaining. The artist Fergus she dispatches with an arrow while she poses in his studio as Diana, the huntress. But Delvaux, a crooked junk dealer, falls inaccessibly into the hands of the police. Still, where there's a will there's a way. Two of the dead men, Bliss and Fergus, had a mutual friend, handsomely played by Jean Claude Brialy, who recognizes Julie at Fergus' funeral. The final ironic touch comes when Truffaut allows the arrest to implement the consummation of Julie's mission. Offbeat There's an offbeat story here adapted from a novel by William Trish. Too, there's good acting all around and crisp dialogue by Truffaut, all framed in high-caliber photography handled by Raoul Coutard. Still, if you demand something more, some deeper development of plot and character, you're likely to be disappointed. Miss Kohler decides what she's going to do and does it, with an unwavering devotion to purpose that is some how hard to accept. Why couldn't she be touched by Fergus' very real charm, for example? And why did she react in this manner to her bride's death. We could as easily expect her to lose her mind. It evidently is Truffaut's choice to deal with scene rather than character in this instance. At any rate, the movie is well worth viewing Miss Moreau as the huntress is captivating. By Jane Rawlingss The title says the bride wore black, but actually the bride, as is the custom for brides, wore white. It was the murderess who wore black, and Jeanne Moreau wears a lot of it in this fascinating film. As Julie, Miss Moreau leaves her home in a small French village and goes to the Cote D'Azur, where she appears unidentified at the engagement party of one young Bliss. She lures him alone onto the terrace and cooly pushes him off. The next project is a shy, middle-aged man, who dies at Julie's feet after she poisons his drink. After this victim, there are three more each done in with considerable finesse. Awe and Artistry Obviously, the role of a murderess is not one with which many women will identify. But this is not the point. "The Bride Wore Black" is no "Georgy Girl" or "Rachel, Rachel," and is not intended to win over movie-goers, but to awe them with its artistry. And awe them it does. This film establishes itself in the front ranks of cinematic art in several ways. Julie is a kind of female Hamlet, bound to revenge the shooting death of her husband on their wedding day. She procedes on her brutal course with absolute resolution, creating a powerful and amazing character. The torrid Miss Moreau makes the part believable, though, and it is in this acting achievement that much of the film's merit lies. Driven By Love Julie is driven by her love and her vow ("C'est quelque chose qu'il faut faire" "It's something that must be done."). Her matter-of-fact approach would be incredible if it were the only personality facet displayed, but she renders the character realistic (though admittedly rare) by evidencing some softnesses typical of her sex a fondness for children, for example. No, the character of Julie is not ;he cold-blooded, psychopathic -nurderess, the solitary hang-up problem that Betty Davis was so successful in portraying. The role is more complex, and its having been mastered by the smoldering Miss Moreau is a mark of T considerable achievement for her. h Symbolic Repetition The film is to be commended on other points, too. The artful repetition of certain symbols, such as the little black book in which she methodically crosses off the victims' names is very effective as the visual embodiment of what was once a musical and literary technique. There is also that human charm, I typically European, the same delicate entity found in "A Man and a Woman." Director Truffaut, however, is not the special effects buff, photographically speaking, that Claude Lelouche is. Mr. Truffaut lets the natural French settings and the unglamorous-by-Ameri can-standards speak for themselves, wrapping the viewer in the cloud-cushion of his imagination, so that the production's pulse seems to be only slightly faster than his own. The one drawback with this effect is the use of subtitles. Whether this is more or less distracting than dubbing is . a debatable point, and in the case of those who speak French, a moot point. It seems only fair, however, to mention it in passing. European Charm In discussing the powerful human charm, the delicate European charm of The Bride Wore Black, there has been no subversive attempt to build it up as a charming story. The plot itself is one of those nightmarish things you like to read only in other cities' newspapers, and is certainly not for those with weak stomachs, or for those who go to movies only to be entertained. The film's credit is not so much in matter, as in manner not so much in what is said, as in how it is said. On this criterion artistry in acting and direction Truffaut's new effort is indeed a cinematic triumph, the sculpture of a psyche, animated gracefully and convincingly. This is not Walt Whitman's democracy-oriented, didactic art. This is art for the exploitation of a great talent Jeanne Moreau and as such, it is brilliant. t Q. 1 WW"- -' ' m - ' y 1 f 4 $ i If " 1 d d -- jft enner and Jeanne Moreau from "The Bride Wore Black" star o ' "ama of murder and vengence now at the Tower Theater. |
