Vénus aveugle (1941)
Directed by Abel Gance

Film Review

After the fall of France to Nazi Germany in June 1940, Abel Gance embarked on his most ambitious films of the decade, motivated by a well-meaning desire to offer hope and encouragement to his nation at a time of unremitting gloom.  A pragmatist and patriot, Gance made no secret of the fact that he admired Maréchal Pétain and saw him as his country's saviour.  It therefore comes as no surprise to learn that Gance dedicated his next film, Vénus aveugle (a.k.a. Blind Venus), to Pétain, whilst making it a pro-Pétainist allegory of the situation in France, advocating not opposition to the Nazi Occupation but quiet acceptance.

It is easy now to condemn Gance for his attentiste (wait-and-see) stance towards the Occupation but it was a view shared by the majority of the population and this may have been a crucial factor in the film's success at the box office.  Despite a crippling lack of resources, Gance was determined to make a melodrama on a similar scale to those that had first brought him renown in the 1920s.  Unfortunately, his artistic prowess was not what it had once been and his approach to cinema (which was concerned far more with strong images than coherent narrative) often resulted in films that looked as if they had been conceived for the silent era and had been clumsily turned into sound films.  Vénus aveugle shows both of these failings and, ridiculously overlong and painfully mawkish, it is among the least watchable of Gance's melodramas.  Indeed, the only thing it has going for it is a stunning performance from Viviane Romance, then at the height of her powers.

With no other cast member having anything like her charisma, Romance absolutely steals the film, and the sequence in which her character loses her eyesight completely - one of the most poignant scenes in Gance's oeuvre - is probably her greatest moment on film.  Making the film was not a pleasant experience for Romance, however.  Not long into the shoot, the actress had a violent falling out with the director's wife, Sylvie Gance (here credited as Mary-Lou), who played her disabled on-screen sister.  Refusing to work with Madame Gance, Romance insisted that all of her scenes be filmed separately, with a stand-in - these were handled by Gance's assistant, Edmond T. Gréville.

Whether it is the star actress's performance or Gréville's more restrained direction, Viviane Romance's scenes certainly stand out from an otherwise ponderous, turgid and excessively sentimental production, just about salvaging a film that virtually deserves to be forgotten.  Apparently, the film was released in a shorter, 100 minute version, but was virtually incomprehensible.  In its full, 140 minute form, the film is a chore to sit through but a riveting central performance from one of the divas of 1940s French cinema just about makes it tolerable (providing you consume enough caffeine beforehand).  Despite the immense success of Vénus aveugle, Gance made only one other film during the Occupation, the somewhat more endurable Le Capitaine Fracasse (1943).

Film Synopsis

Clarisse is an attractive young model who is in love with Madère, a handsome sailor.  When she learns that she is losing her eyesight, she breaks off her relationship with Madère and resumes her career as a cabaret singer to support herself and her crippled sister Mireille whilst her lover goes off to sea.  Not long afterwards, Clarisse learns that she is pregnant.  When Madère returns a few years later, he is married to another woman and has a young child.  Clarisse's own daughter Violette dies prematurely, just before she loses her eyesight completely...