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Marthe
1997 Drama / Romance / War
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Director:
Jean-Loup Hubert
Starring: Clotilde Courau, Guillaume Depardieu, Bernard Giraudeau, Thérèse Liotard, Gérard Jugnot |
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Summary
Autumn, 1915. Wounded on a World War I battlefield, a young soldier, Simon, is sent
to seaside town in Brittany to receive treatment and convalesce. Here, he meets
and falls in love with a young schoolteacher, Marthe. Although she is engaged to
a man who is also serving in the trenches of the seemingly interminable war, Marthe cannot
help falling in love with Simon. Fearing that he will be lost to her if he returns
to the frontline, she contrives to have him stay with her. Simon is torn between
his love for the woman he adores and his duty as a soldier…
Credits
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Review
Whilst somewhat heavy on sentiment and dialogue, this wartime romantic drama from Jean-Loup
Hubert has a great deal going for it. The deeply melancholic photography evokes
not just the mood of the period in which the film is set but also the emotional intensity
of its protagonists, each of whom is racked by an awareness of the evanescence of life
and love in such a period of cruel uncertainty. The drama is familiar, offering
few surprises for the spectator, but it is skilfully played out, with some exceptional
performances from an impressive cast. Most memorable are the contributions from
the two leads, Clotilde Courau and Guillaume Depardieu, both of whom bring depth and tenderness
to their characterisation, making some moments of the film particularly poignant.
Gérard Jugnot is also worth mentioning for his brief but striking portrayal of
a crippled soldier. Where the film particularly makes it mark is in its realisation
of the World War battle scenes. Although not on the scale of blockbuster war films,
these sequences – which include some inventive use of point-of-view shots –
are extraordinarily effective, give us a truly harrowing taste of the nightmare that was
trench warfare.
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