Interesting and enigmatic film, originating from a short story by Julian Gracq (can't compare because haven't read). This justifies the fact that the plot content is minimal, and the almost hour and a half of film is delayed in a minimalist and ambiguous story, without decorating it with content not directly related to the essential plot, which in any case is never clear and is left to the free interpretation of the viewer.
The protagonist, a brilliant but poor Luxembourgish pianist, in France during the First World War, receives a letter from a friend who is in the front, an aristocratic composer, with whom he collaborated musically and seems to be very attached.
In that letter the composer invites him to his unoccupied mansion in the country, since he is on leave and wants to meet him there.
From the moment the protagonist begins his journey to the meeting, everything seems to be brilliantly orchestrated to influence the protagonist's mood and thoughts, beginning with his initial encounter on the train with an enigmatic woman (is she similar with the woman in the painting which appears afterwards?) and a military man on leave.
But it's when he gets to the mansion that the atmosphere becomes rare. The friend is not there, and in his absence he only finds a beautiful maid, who does not seem very communicative but is very interested in the protagonist staying the night. Obviously, she has received very precise instructions from the absent friend, about the food and drink that she has to serve him, and about how to behave (misterious, romantic, elusive, somewhat tragic); and in the house itself, the protagonist cannot help but paying attention to objects, photographs, scores that make him recall past meetings between friends.
We are drawing several conclusions from these memories: the aristocratic friend is definitely more mundane and practical, and has a relationship with a girl (Bulle Ogier) who, like the protagonist, is clearly of humble origin but far from misterious or sophisticated). This relationship does not seem very serious. The protagonist is, however, an introvert, at times with almost childlike innocence, and not much given to worldly pleasures or fleeting love affairs. In fact, there is a scene in which the friend makes fun of this attitude (his pride, his withdrawal, his lack of interest in women), and another scene in which, quite transparently, he encourages the protagonist to get closer to his girlfriend, proposal by the way rejected. There is even a scene in which the friend's mother, an unfriendly aristocrat who feels somewhat abandoned by her son, reproaches him for furtive encounters in the country mansion (precisely in the mansion where he is now spending the night), encounters that the protagonist categorically denies.
That is why the events on this lonely night begin to be so suspicious, it almost seems that the friend's note was a lure and that the protagonist is being the object of a well-intentioned trap, a setup to create in the refined and romantic protagonist a mood that leads him to surrender himself to the arms of this most beautiful servant, who hardly speaks, who seems totally schooled on what to do, how to behave, who secretly shows her concern, but who insists suspiciously that the protagonist does not leave the house until he is forced to spend the night.
The next day the pianist leaves the house and goes to the station, but a story in the newspaper makes him decide to return home.
The film is worth, above all, for the ambiguous and mysterious atmosphere, for the hypnotic beauty of its quite and delicate images, for the deliberate rhythm of that wandering in that kind of cold, enigmatic and welcoming prison in which the protagonist has been forced to remain. Highly recommended, a small but very remarkable film.
The protagonist, a brilliant but poor Luxembourgish pianist, in France during the First World War, receives a letter from a friend who is in the front, an aristocratic composer, with whom he collaborated musically and seems to be very attached.
In that letter the composer invites him to his unoccupied mansion in the country, since he is on leave and wants to meet him there.
From the moment the protagonist begins his journey to the meeting, everything seems to be brilliantly orchestrated to influence the protagonist's mood and thoughts, beginning with his initial encounter on the train with an enigmatic woman (is she similar with the woman in the painting which appears afterwards?) and a military man on leave.
But it's when he gets to the mansion that the atmosphere becomes rare. The friend is not there, and in his absence he only finds a beautiful maid, who does not seem very communicative but is very interested in the protagonist staying the night. Obviously, she has received very precise instructions from the absent friend, about the food and drink that she has to serve him, and about how to behave (misterious, romantic, elusive, somewhat tragic); and in the house itself, the protagonist cannot help but paying attention to objects, photographs, scores that make him recall past meetings between friends.
We are drawing several conclusions from these memories: the aristocratic friend is definitely more mundane and practical, and has a relationship with a girl (Bulle Ogier) who, like the protagonist, is clearly of humble origin but far from misterious or sophisticated). This relationship does not seem very serious. The protagonist is, however, an introvert, at times with almost childlike innocence, and not much given to worldly pleasures or fleeting love affairs. In fact, there is a scene in which the friend makes fun of this attitude (his pride, his withdrawal, his lack of interest in women), and another scene in which, quite transparently, he encourages the protagonist to get closer to his girlfriend, proposal by the way rejected. There is even a scene in which the friend's mother, an unfriendly aristocrat who feels somewhat abandoned by her son, reproaches him for furtive encounters in the country mansion (precisely in the mansion where he is now spending the night), encounters that the protagonist categorically denies.
That is why the events on this lonely night begin to be so suspicious, it almost seems that the friend's note was a lure and that the protagonist is being the object of a well-intentioned trap, a setup to create in the refined and romantic protagonist a mood that leads him to surrender himself to the arms of this most beautiful servant, who hardly speaks, who seems totally schooled on what to do, how to behave, who secretly shows her concern, but who insists suspiciously that the protagonist does not leave the house until he is forced to spend the night.
The next day the pianist leaves the house and goes to the station, but a story in the newspaper makes him decide to return home.
The film is worth, above all, for the ambiguous and mysterious atmosphere, for the hypnotic beauty of its quite and delicate images, for the deliberate rhythm of that wandering in that kind of cold, enigmatic and welcoming prison in which the protagonist has been forced to remain. Highly recommended, a small but very remarkable film.