La Fayette (1962)
Directed by Jean Dréville

Film Review

After Yves Robert's La Guerre des boutons, the second biggest home-produced hit at the French box office in 1962 was this period action spectacular from director Jean Dréville on the life of one of France's most important historical figures, the Marquis de La Fayette.  Dréville was not only acclaimed as a great technician and auteur, he also had a knack for making films with immense popular appeal.  Before La Fayette, he had notched up several critical and commercial successes, including La Cage aux rossignols (1945), Retour à la vie (1949) and Les Casse-pieds (1948).  La Fayette was Dréville's most ambitious film, an expensive Franco-Italian production that can hold its own against any Hollywood period blockbuster of the time.  In France alone, the film drew an audience of 3.7 million, in a year that was well-represented by lavish swashbucklers, including Philippe de Broca's Cartouche, André Hunebelle's Les Mystères de Paris and Henri Decoin's Le Masque de fer.

La Fayette epitomises the French historical drama of the 1960s at its best, its only real let down being a script that tries to cram far too much detail into too small a space.   Beautifully photographed by Roger Hubert and Claude Renoir, the film is visually arresting throughout but only comes into its own in the stunning battle scenes, which fill every last inch of the widescreen picture and are breathtaking in their scale and attention to detail.  Michel Le Royer, a virtual unknown at the time, was a daring choice for the lead role but he acquits himself admirably and portrays La Fayette as history records him, an impetuous firebrand and keen humanitarian devoted to the revolutionary cause.  After this impressive debut, it is surprising that Le Royer's film career failed to take off; instead, the actor devoted himself mainly to his stage work, with occasional appearances in film and television.

Jack Hawkins provides plenty of old school acting muscle on the opposing side, although his character, a cocksure old general who is more preoccupied with his supply of brandy than winning the war, comes across as even more fey and buffoonish than Albert Rémy's Louis XVI.  Orson Welles and Vittorio De Sica are shoehorned in, doubtless to improve overseas sales of the film, but both turn in enjoyable cameos, Welles looking particularly impressive as Benjamin Franklin.  Liselotte Pulver makes a delightful Marie-Antoinette, narrowly eclipsing Pascale Audret in the thankless role of Mrs La Fayette.  Whilst it is hard to fault the acting, the areas where the film particularly excels are its direction and cinematography.  Jean Dréville was 54 when he made this film and would direct only two subsequent cinematic features before ending his career in television, working on various series.  Educational and entertaining in equal measure, La Fayette should be considered one of Dréville's finest achievements.

Film Synopsis

In 1776, the British colonies in America have begun to rise up against the British crown, intent on creating their own independent republic.  News of the revolution reaches the royal court of France, and excites the imagination of one particular aristocrat and solider, the 19-year-old Marquis Gilbert de La Fayette.  A devotee of the radical philosophy of Voltaire and Rousseau, La Fayette resigns his commission in the royal army and plans to take a ship to the New World so that he can fight alongside General Washington in the war against the British.  Naturally he faces opposition from his king, Louis XVI, but with the help of Queen Marie-Antoinette and other like-minded noblemen, La Fayette reaches the shores of New England in a ship paid for out of his own pocket.  To his surprise, the leaders in the American Congress are apparently unwilling to accept the support of the Frenchman and his comrades, until La Fayette convinces them of his sincerity.  On the battlefield, La Fayette proves himself a worthy ally and makes an invaluable contribution to America's fight for independence against the British...