Award winning cinematographer Yves Angelo makes his directorial debut here with this adaptation of one of the novels that make up Honoré de Balzac's monumental 'La Comedie Humaine', a 'natural history' of post-Napoleonic French society.
Not a few cinematographers have tried their hand at directing with decidedly uneven results but Angelo does a first rate job here and has the blessing of an exemplary cast.
It concerns an army veteran, long presumed dead, who returns in the hope of regaining his fortune, his status and his wife. A former prostitute, she has since become a Countess and is unwilling to jeopardise the social position she has acquired with his money..........
This is in fact the sixth film adaptation of Balzac's novella and the character of Colonel Chabert has been played most notably by Werner Krauss, Raimu and Vladislav Strzhelchik. At the time this current version was made there was surely no French actor around with box-office power who was capable of following in their footsteps other than Gerard Depardieu whose performance is utterly mesmerising. Not for nothing has he been referred to by Yves Montand as 'THE actor of his generation.' Playing the morally ambiguous Comtesse Ferraud is the wondrous Fanny Ardant with whom Depardieu made 'The Woman next door' thirteen years earlier and once again their scenes together are riveting.
André Dusollier as Comte Ferraud is as always good value and the characterisation of the lawyer Derville by Fabrice Luchini is well-drawn although his mannered delivery can be rather tiresome.
As with all of Balzac's novels the multi-faceted characters live and breathe whilst the theme of how a hero of War can become an outcast of Peace is tragically timeless.
Whilst this film is not a classic it is absorbing and at times distinctly unsettling. Rather than use a specially composed score Angelo has cleverly used classical pieces notably Schubert's final piano sonata and Beethoven's trio of which the title 'Ghost' is singularly appropriate to Chabert's reappearance as if from the dead.
It has first class production values and continues the superlative tradition of costume drama at which French film-makers excel.
Not a few cinematographers have tried their hand at directing with decidedly uneven results but Angelo does a first rate job here and has the blessing of an exemplary cast.
It concerns an army veteran, long presumed dead, who returns in the hope of regaining his fortune, his status and his wife. A former prostitute, she has since become a Countess and is unwilling to jeopardise the social position she has acquired with his money..........
This is in fact the sixth film adaptation of Balzac's novella and the character of Colonel Chabert has been played most notably by Werner Krauss, Raimu and Vladislav Strzhelchik. At the time this current version was made there was surely no French actor around with box-office power who was capable of following in their footsteps other than Gerard Depardieu whose performance is utterly mesmerising. Not for nothing has he been referred to by Yves Montand as 'THE actor of his generation.' Playing the morally ambiguous Comtesse Ferraud is the wondrous Fanny Ardant with whom Depardieu made 'The Woman next door' thirteen years earlier and once again their scenes together are riveting.
André Dusollier as Comte Ferraud is as always good value and the characterisation of the lawyer Derville by Fabrice Luchini is well-drawn although his mannered delivery can be rather tiresome.
As with all of Balzac's novels the multi-faceted characters live and breathe whilst the theme of how a hero of War can become an outcast of Peace is tragically timeless.
Whilst this film is not a classic it is absorbing and at times distinctly unsettling. Rather than use a specially composed score Angelo has cleverly used classical pieces notably Schubert's final piano sonata and Beethoven's trio of which the title 'Ghost' is singularly appropriate to Chabert's reappearance as if from the dead.
It has first class production values and continues the superlative tradition of costume drama at which French film-makers excel.