Mississippi Mermaid
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Movie Reviews of Mississippi Mermaid
Movie Review: The bones are here for a nice, nasty tale of self-destructive obsession, but then there's all that stuff about finding true love
Summary: 3 Stars
"Julie, you are adorable," says Louis Mahe (Jean-Paul Belmondo) to his beautiful new mail-order bride, Julie Rousel (Catherine Deneuve). "Do you know what that means? `Adorable'. It means worthy of adoration." Louis is a wealthy tobacco grower and cigarette manufacturer on the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean. When Julie arrived on the island, she didn't look like the photograph she had sent him when she agreed to be his wife. She says she was timid and decided to send the photograph of her sister. Louis is enchanted by her beauty and understands her caution. They marry, and Louis becomes a husband deeply happy. He tells her she is worthy of adoration just a day or two after he arranges to change his personal and business accounts into joint accounts. That evening, Julie has disappeared, cleaning out both accounts. Louis goes to France, has a breakdown, and then by chance sees Julie in a newscast about a new nightclub and the women there who are hostesses. Louis learns she is really a woman named Marion Vergano. Marion's history would lead only the most obsessed of men to think a happy ending could be in the cards. Most of the movie places us in France after Louis has found her and accepted her as Marion Vergano
Mississippi Mermaid, written and directed by Francois Truffaut, is a movie of Louis' obsession, of sexual psychosis, of parasitic selfishness, of stolen identity and of rat poison, with a lot of self-revealing (some of it even true) dialogue thrown in. As much as I think comparing one director to another is usually pointless, in this case Truffaut may have watched Vertigo, Psycho and Marnie once too often. Still, murder at the top of the stairs, the star power of Deneuve and Belmondo and some eccentric passing opinions (Louis thinks Johnny Guitar is "a love story, with lots of feeling in it."), all handled with Truffaut's characteristic confidence isn't something to pass by. The downside is that Mississippi Mermaid, despite all of its advantages, at times veers too close to melodramatic parody.
"You mustn't cry, my dear. It's your happiness I want, not your tears."
"I'm learning what love is, Louis. It's painful. It hurts me." It sounds better in French, but the meaning is just as soppy.
Truffaut adapted his movie from the pulp mystery novel, Waltz into Darkness, by Cornell Woolrich writing as William Irish. The movie didn't do too well the first time out, but then underwent a rediscovery of sorts. Unfortunately, that meant articles by people who teach film studies at universities. One such person wrote, "[Mississippi Mermaid] remains a fascinating exploration of the major themes essayed by movie melodramas of betrayal - a sort of distillation of the amoral nucleus of Double Indemnity and the wilder settings of Key Largo." Distillation of the amoral nucleus? I don't even know what an amoral nucleus is. The salient point, for me, is that films such as Double Indemnity and Key Largo are above all else tightly told stories. I think Truffaut with Mississippi Mermaid started with a nice, nasty, obsessional pulp tale, but then tried to do too much with it.
The DVD is not anamorphic. The transfer is nothing special. There are no extras.
Movie Review: Meeting Miss "Right"
Summary: 3 Stars
This film involves the story of a man seeking his "perfect mate" by means of an ad she has placed in a newspaper. He lives on a lonely island in the Indian Ocean (Reunion, once a French colony) and the woman, played by Catherine Deneuve, is from Paris, supposedly. At first the two exchange a series of letters, so as to "get to know one another," and eventually the woman agrees to travel to Reunion to meet the man. He happens to be a wealthy tobacco farmer, and the owner of a cigarette factory, which makes him moderately wealthy. Upon meeting each other in person they appear somewhat uncomfortable with the circumstances, as if niether quite expected what they find. The woman seems to remember little from her correspondance. When sharing his experiences with business partners the man gets less-than-lukewarm responses from his close associates. Despite these peculiar circumstances and an absolute abscence of anything near intimacy the plans for a wedding go forward. Shortly afterward the woman's behavior becomes gradually more bizarre, until finally she disappears altogether, having taken the man's fortune with her. The man's pusuit for this woman, now his wife, follows. We learn he is pursuing more than just a thief; he pursues her as love-object as well, ending up in shady dance halls along the French Riviera, where she is working. Eventually the truth bocomes known, a kind of love between the two develops, and Catherine Deneuve's character as a victim just as much as a victimizer becomes known. All in all I do not think it is one of her best performances. Where the film succeeds at all is in it's underlying message for persons seeking fulfilling relationships by means of classified "personals." In this respect I think Truffaut was ahead of his time.Movie Review: Don't Buy Your Wife from a Catalogue!
Summary: 3 Stars
Both Francois Truffaut's "Mississippi Mermaid" and Michael Cristopher's "Original Sin" are based on the same Cornell Woolrich pot-boiler novel. Truffaut's version is a relatively bloodless affair especially since his stars, Catherine Deneuve and Jean Paul Belmondo play their roles as if they are slumming in "meler-dramer" country: they're much too polite and just plain cold, frigid even in their respective roles as Julie Roussel(really Julie Vergano) and Louis. Deneuve, of course is woefully miscast as Julie but Belmondo, on paper at least, must have seemed ideal as the kind, sexy, considerate, obsessed Louis. What happened? Though Truffaut was/is considered a director of the highest order, he doesn't have the requisite, particular passion to bring this very American story to life. For the same reason, if it were not for Jeanne Moreau's elegant, persuassive performance, his faux Hitchcock "The Bride wore Black" would have also been a failure. In the new version "Original Sin," both Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas make Julie and Louis breathe with a life force that sets the screen on fire in a sexy, sweaty swirl of passion. These are not subtle roles....they need to played over-the-top. And this is what this material needs: not polite reverence but wild abandon.
Does this mean that Cristopher is a better director than Truffaut? No. Just better suited to the material, in this case.
On the other hand, Truffaut is a master and as such there are sublime passages in "Mississippi Mermaid," especially the scenes of obsession involving Louis and Julie's under clothing. But... Mermaid is a fascinating, beautiful failure but a failure nonetheless.
Movie Review: A ROMANTIC LOST IN THE XXth CENTURY
Summary: 3 Stars
MISSISSIPPI MERMAID could be considered as an homage to Alfred Hitchcock. True if one appreciates the musical score of the movie very Bernard Herrmann-like or discreet little touches reminding of the english master touch. But that's all because there is any suspense in Truffaut's MISSISSIPPI MERMAID. As in THE BRIDE WORE BLACK, Truffaut kills carefully any tension that could arise in the viewer's mind. Jean-Paul Belmondo is another variation of Antoine Doinel, the well-known Truffaut double, he is a romantic hero, speaks like a romantic hero and finally acts like a romantic hero of the french XXth century literature. On the contrary, Catherine Deneuve is the impersonation of a 1968 young woman - at least, in Truffaut's mind - egotistical, money hungry and materialistic. Their encounter cannot but produce a hiatus. Hence, the strange mood of the movie and the curious reactions of the characters almost unbelievable for the XXth century rational Truffaut fan. So if you don't know the movies of François Truffaut, begin your discovery with THE 400 BLOWS or THE SOFT SKIN and leave this movie for later, for the moment you will be ready to accept this peculiar love story.
Just a trailer as bonus features if one excepts the various subtitles with this MGM DVD. Images and sound no more than average.
A DVD zone make your choice.
Movie Review: For the Intrepid!
Summary: 3 Stars
A previous reviewer wrote that this movie is a "beautiful failure". That assessment may be a bit harsh, although "Mississippi Mermaid" has its' faults. On the positive side, MM features solid chemistry `twixt Mr. Belmondo and Ms. Deneuve. There is some wonderful scenery from Reunion Island and parts of France. Viewer interest is maintained throughout-few will be bored. Yet, the negatives outweigh: Credibility is cheerfully tossed aside. Some egregious (!) "loose ends" are never tied together. Two very serious crimes take place on camera, one murder and one embezzlement. A second murder occurs off camera as a young woman is allegedly thrown overboard from an ocean liner! And then there is a vengeful, justice-seeking sister of the poor girl who alledgedly was deep sixed, hiring 50 per cent of a world-wise, smarmy private eye. Are any culprits brought to justice? With those nefarious subplots, MM almost works. This review will end here so as not to divulge any resolutions. This observer was unfamiliar with the work of the two leading stars. One suspects MM is not the best introduction to either. Questions and all, MM is still recommended, with the foregoing warning, to the intrepid movie lover.