When you have a film that has four directors and all four end up declining to have their name appear anywhere in the credits at the beginning of the film, then you can probably expect that this picture did not turn out very well. And indeed, MGM who produced it, considered it a monumental failure.
Why is it so bad? The film begins with a rather sketchy setup. We learn that Frenchmen Paul (Robert Mitchum) and fellow inmate Jean (Richard Hart) are prisoners in a German POW camp. Paul confides in Jean all about his life with wife Marise (Greer Garson) who lives in a little cottage by the sea in Normandy.
Paul and Jean try to escape and only Jean appears to have evaded the German guards. Jean then goes to see Marise and claims that Paul was killed before his very eyes. He manipulates her by telling things about herself which he learned from Paul. Jean wants Marise for himself-she at first wants him to leave but because she's lonely, eventually gives in to his wishes.
At first Jean appears to be a little bit creepy but eventually the film audience is called upon to hate him after we view a flashback in which he declines to aid Paul right before the Germans are about to either kill or recapture him. Oh, there's also that letter from Paul which Jean pilfers to ensure Marise doesn't know Paul is still alive and plans soon to return to their village.
But it's really the part of Marise which is the big letdown here. There is no reason why we should give a fig about her as she's depicted as a saint throughout. Mitchum as Paul doesn't show up until three quarters of the film is over. Up until that time, Jean's entreaties toward Marise are one big repetitious bore. Only the local priest breaks things up by showing up castigating the already unlikable Jean for shacking up with Marise without being married.
The climax perhaps represents one of the silliest, manipulative endings in film history. It begins with a curveball of sorts. Paul is almost about to give up on Marise when she confesses she got involved with Jean. But since he's been billed as such a good guy by Marise all along, of course he proves his mettle by forgiving her.
The next happenstance is standard melodrama with Jean bent on murdering Paul using an old pistol (it works fine) which he found in Paul's office which belonged to his father. Now here's where the manipulation comes in. Paul and Jean have a life and death struggle on the fog shrouded cliffs near the cottage and one of them falls to his death. Marise screams which leads us to believe it was Paul.
Do we see the aftermath which should include a police investigation and subsequent inquest? No! Instead, we cut to Marise's angst ridden conversation with her doctor (the scene which begins the film) and he cautions her that the pain she feels is psychosomatic.
Apparently Marise was staying in town for at least a week or two to cope with all the guilt she has over Jean's death, not Paul's!!! Odd that she's not staying back at the cottage with Paul who could be comforting her.
All of this is intentionally not made clear so that the film's scenarists try to pass off Paul's survival as some kind of monumental twist. The crucial aftermath of the death plunge is intentionally omitted and this ridiculous "consultation" Marise has with her family doctor is designed to throw us off the scent that Paul was the one who was responsible for the death of his rival and not the other way around.
Desire Me fails on many levels including the lugubrious second act featuring a standard villain (Jean) attempting to corrupt a saintly female victim (Marise). None of the characters are fleshed out beyond the basic love triangle rivalry.
It is said that Mitchum hated working with Garson who allegedly went along with the director of the moment's instructions to do 125 takes of the word "no," during production. Garson who almost drowned in the Monterey (California) surf during filming, ended up undergoing multiple surgeries on her back in the following years. Worse yet the forgotten star Hart is forgotten today precisely because he never made it past age 35 after experiencing a massive heart attack. Sad!
Why is it so bad? The film begins with a rather sketchy setup. We learn that Frenchmen Paul (Robert Mitchum) and fellow inmate Jean (Richard Hart) are prisoners in a German POW camp. Paul confides in Jean all about his life with wife Marise (Greer Garson) who lives in a little cottage by the sea in Normandy.
Paul and Jean try to escape and only Jean appears to have evaded the German guards. Jean then goes to see Marise and claims that Paul was killed before his very eyes. He manipulates her by telling things about herself which he learned from Paul. Jean wants Marise for himself-she at first wants him to leave but because she's lonely, eventually gives in to his wishes.
At first Jean appears to be a little bit creepy but eventually the film audience is called upon to hate him after we view a flashback in which he declines to aid Paul right before the Germans are about to either kill or recapture him. Oh, there's also that letter from Paul which Jean pilfers to ensure Marise doesn't know Paul is still alive and plans soon to return to their village.
But it's really the part of Marise which is the big letdown here. There is no reason why we should give a fig about her as she's depicted as a saint throughout. Mitchum as Paul doesn't show up until three quarters of the film is over. Up until that time, Jean's entreaties toward Marise are one big repetitious bore. Only the local priest breaks things up by showing up castigating the already unlikable Jean for shacking up with Marise without being married.
The climax perhaps represents one of the silliest, manipulative endings in film history. It begins with a curveball of sorts. Paul is almost about to give up on Marise when she confesses she got involved with Jean. But since he's been billed as such a good guy by Marise all along, of course he proves his mettle by forgiving her.
The next happenstance is standard melodrama with Jean bent on murdering Paul using an old pistol (it works fine) which he found in Paul's office which belonged to his father. Now here's where the manipulation comes in. Paul and Jean have a life and death struggle on the fog shrouded cliffs near the cottage and one of them falls to his death. Marise screams which leads us to believe it was Paul.
Do we see the aftermath which should include a police investigation and subsequent inquest? No! Instead, we cut to Marise's angst ridden conversation with her doctor (the scene which begins the film) and he cautions her that the pain she feels is psychosomatic.
Apparently Marise was staying in town for at least a week or two to cope with all the guilt she has over Jean's death, not Paul's!!! Odd that she's not staying back at the cottage with Paul who could be comforting her.
All of this is intentionally not made clear so that the film's scenarists try to pass off Paul's survival as some kind of monumental twist. The crucial aftermath of the death plunge is intentionally omitted and this ridiculous "consultation" Marise has with her family doctor is designed to throw us off the scent that Paul was the one who was responsible for the death of his rival and not the other way around.
Desire Me fails on many levels including the lugubrious second act featuring a standard villain (Jean) attempting to corrupt a saintly female victim (Marise). None of the characters are fleshed out beyond the basic love triangle rivalry.
It is said that Mitchum hated working with Garson who allegedly went along with the director of the moment's instructions to do 125 takes of the word "no," during production. Garson who almost drowned in the Monterey (California) surf during filming, ended up undergoing multiple surgeries on her back in the following years. Worse yet the forgotten star Hart is forgotten today precisely because he never made it past age 35 after experiencing a massive heart attack. Sad!