Having just read the new Garry McGee biog on Jean Seberg, I've found myself wanting to see all the films I could get my hands on, especially the early ones, which isn't easy considering their relative lack of availability. There is a large gap between 1959's "Breathless" and 1964's "Lilith", a period when Jean made mostly only French films (of which only "Breathless" is available on DVD). One of the only big studio pictures made during this time was "In the French Style," so I was excited when I finally found someone with a copy. I couldn't wait to see it, as I knew it was a vehicle for the star and would therefore feature her with plenty of closeups and opportunities to emote.
I was surprised when I got my copy that this film was in black and white--by 1964 most major films were being produced in color and I just naturally assumed this would be too. I was also surprised that it doesn't look or play like an American movie, no big French Provincial, quintessentially '60's sets, no elaborate costumes even after her character becomes a model, etc. It's a rather grimy and bleak-looking little movie about a young American girl who goes to Paris to learn to paint and gets sucked up into the nightlife and has a number of affairs with businessmen who come and go, leaving her feeling empty by the film's end. But nothing really happens, the events never rise above the level of soap opera--a sleepy one at that--and it's hard to tell at times what the director was trying to get across.
Jean looks beautiful throughout--which for me justified the expense of buying the film, and it wasn't that it was exactly boring. But it lacked a masterly touch. For example, when the character's father comes to visit and expresses disapproval of her painting and lifestyle, asking her to come home, her reaction is so listless it's impossible to tell if her character is supposed to be upset, indifferent, if she even feels close to her father at all. This emotional ambivalence pervades both her character and the film, until the viewer is left starving for a sympathetic character to invest in. With only a few touches where we get to see her character express some passion about something, it could have been so much better. As it is, it's kind of an exasperating film.
Fans of Seberg will still love it however, as she is adorable and at the apex of her youth and beauty.
I was surprised when I got my copy that this film was in black and white--by 1964 most major films were being produced in color and I just naturally assumed this would be too. I was also surprised that it doesn't look or play like an American movie, no big French Provincial, quintessentially '60's sets, no elaborate costumes even after her character becomes a model, etc. It's a rather grimy and bleak-looking little movie about a young American girl who goes to Paris to learn to paint and gets sucked up into the nightlife and has a number of affairs with businessmen who come and go, leaving her feeling empty by the film's end. But nothing really happens, the events never rise above the level of soap opera--a sleepy one at that--and it's hard to tell at times what the director was trying to get across.
Jean looks beautiful throughout--which for me justified the expense of buying the film, and it wasn't that it was exactly boring. But it lacked a masterly touch. For example, when the character's father comes to visit and expresses disapproval of her painting and lifestyle, asking her to come home, her reaction is so listless it's impossible to tell if her character is supposed to be upset, indifferent, if she even feels close to her father at all. This emotional ambivalence pervades both her character and the film, until the viewer is left starving for a sympathetic character to invest in. With only a few touches where we get to see her character express some passion about something, it could have been so much better. As it is, it's kind of an exasperating film.
Fans of Seberg will still love it however, as she is adorable and at the apex of her youth and beauty.