Lettres d'amour / Love Letters / Claude Autant-Lara / 1942

Lettres d'amour

1942 Drama / Comedy / History

Credits

Director: Claude Autant-Lara
Script: Jean Aurenche, Maurice Blondeau, based on a novel by Jean Aurenche
Photo: Philippe Agostini
Music: Maurice Yvain
Cast: Odette Joyeux (Zélie Fontaine), François Périer (François de Portal), Julien Carette (Loriquet, le maître à danser), André Alerme (Le marquis de Longevialle), Simone Renant (Hortense de la Jacquerie), Robert Arnoux (Monsieur de la Jacquerie), Jean Parédès (Désiré Ledru), Jean Debucourt (Napoléon III), Jacqueline Champi (Marinette), Henri de Livry (Le ministre de la Justice), Yves Deniaud (Le maire), Jean-Pierre Kérien (Le postillon), Ariane Murator (Charlotte), Georges Pally (Daronne), Gilles Quéant (Le fou de la danse), Martial Rèbe (Le président), Louis Salou (Monsieur de Mortemort)
Country: France
Language: French
Runtime: 110 min; B&W
Aka: Love Letters

Summary

France, at the time of the Second Empire. Zélie Fontain is the post mistress in a small provincial town. The wife of the town’s prefect has a secret lover in Paris who is ardent to express his love through his letters. Zélie agrees to receive the letters, thereby hoping to avoid a scandal. Unfortunately, Zélie proves not to be the most reliable of confidantes...

Review

The enchanting Odette Joyeux gives arguably her best performance in this delightful piece of satire. The film allows its director, Claude Autant-Lara, to express a similar anti-Bourgeois sentiment to that seen in his other works of this period, notably Douce (1943).

© James Travers 2003

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