La Vouivre (1989)
Directed by Georges Wilson

Film Review

This unsettling post-WWI drama was the only film to be directed for the cinema by Georges Wilson, a well-known and greatly admired actor of both stage and screen (previously he had made two films for French television). His son, Lambert Wilson, plays the lead role and brings a gruelling authenticity to his portrayal of an ex-combatant struggling to adapt to civilian life after having endured the horrors of war.  Wilson Senior, who is immortalised as Captain Haddock in Jean-Jacques Vierne's Tintin et le mystère de la Toison d'Or (1961), brings a singular sensitivity and visual aesthetic to the film, although the artistry of his mise-en-scène is as patchy as the uneven narrative, and the film fails to gel into a coherent whole. Expressively photographed in a picturesque rural location in the east of France, La Vouivre succeeds to some extent in evoking the dark poetry of the novel by Marcel Aymé on which it is based, but, despite some strong performances, it lacks impact and is marred by an ambiguous ending which leaves the impression that only part of the story has been told. For her performance, Suzanne Flon was rewarded with the César for Best Supporting Actress in 1990.

Film Synopsis

France, 1919.  A small village bears the imprint of the First World War through the noticeable lack of young men who were once its life and soul.  The few who return after the war, like Arsène Muselier, are greeted as heroes, bringing joy to their relatives and hope to those who are still waiting to be reunited with their sons and husbands.  Arsène is fortunate to have only a minor head wound, but this occasionally drives him to bouts of wild fury and delirium.  Louise, his mother, and Urbain, the old man who helped to rear him after his father's death, are especially grateful that the young man has come back to them, and his childhood friend Belette, a simple soul, can hardly conceal her delight.

As he tries to re-adjust to his new life, Arsène takes an interest in the ancient legend of La Vouivre, a mysterious siren of the marshes who wears a diamond around her neck and lives surrounded by serpents.  One day, the young man catches a glimpse of this mythical woman.  She is more beautiful than any mortal creature and Arsène cannot resist her powerful allure.  Is it possible that La Vouivre really does exist, or is what he is seeing merely the product of a damaged mind that refuses to heal itself?   After discovering Belette in bed with his good-for-nothing brother Victor, a shocked Arsène returns to the marshes in search of the fantastic apparition that has stolen both his heart and his soul...