'Edouard mon fils' is an adaptation for French television of the English drama 'Edward, My Son'. My French is not of the best, but I was able to follow the action of this talky drama largely due to my familiarity with the original playscript and its film version. I wish I had seen the play, co-written by Robert Morley as a starring vehicle for himself. For most of his career, Morley coasted in roles that paid the most money for the least demand on his energy and talent ... but in his early days, Morley was an extremely ambitious and talented man of the theatre. In 'Edward, My Son', intriguingly, he tackled the ambitious and difficult task of creating a protagonist who does not engage the audience's sympathies in any way.
The well-known film version of 'Edward, My Son' (appropriately filmed in England) was deeply flawed due to Spencer Tracy's presence in the leading role. I greatly respect Tracy's craft as an actor, but he was often miscast. In 'Edward, My Son', he betrayed the character (and the story) by playing to the audience's sympathy. Also, as the main role was an Englishman, some awkward dialogue was inserted about Tracy's character being Canadian so as to spare him from attempting an English accent.
In all of its versions, 'Edward, My Son' is one of those dramas in which the title character is never seen: Edward is absent throughout, but constantly spoken about at great length by everyone else. In the MGM film, that was a weakness: the film opened up the stage material, forcing the audience to wonder why Edward (so central to the activities and thoughts of both his parents) was never present. This 1974 French television version reverts to the original staging, with only slight changes, and this makes it in many ways (despite the low budget and static camerawork) an improvement over MGM's movie. As we're clearly going to stay inside Arnold's factory, there's no expectation that the dilettante Edward will show up.
In this French version, the story and the characters' nationality are located to France, so there are some name changes and some dialogue revisions beyond the language change. Arnold is a ruthless industrialist. Speaking directly to the audience, he seeks to persuade us that everything he has done is a noble sacrifice to make life easier for his precious son Edward. Arnold's wife Evelyne is also expected to sacrifice for Edward. SPOILERS COMING. As the action progresses - with Arnold committing business crimes, and driving inconvenient people to suicide, all for the supposed benefit of Edward - we see that Arnold's motives are more selfish than he will admit, even to himself. Eventually, Edward dies (still offstage, in a 'plane crash), forcing his parents to examine the wisdom of their supposed sacrifices, and provoking Evelyne to renounce her selfish husband.
The gimmick of the central character remaining offstage and unseen has some benefits, but also causes difficulties. Michel de Ré performs the lead role of Arnold in a manner that prevents us from fully believing he sincerely loves his son Edward. Perhaps he doesn't; perhaps Arnold's professed devotion to his son is one more ego trip, enabling Arnold to congratulate himself on what a devoted father he is (and giving him another motive for rationalising his crimes). Because we never see Arnold and his son together, we can never determine if Arnold actually loves his son, or if Edward loves his father. The unseen Edward seems to be utterly selfish, in a dilettantish manner that's more obvious than the self-centredness of his father. There is a great air of futility to this production, but much of that is due to the source material. The stiff-upper-lip British flavour of the original seems to have given over to a generally blasé tone of Gallic shrugs in this translation. Or am I imposing cultural stereotypes upon my perceptions?
Michel Beaune is excellent as Arnold's only friend: Dr Parker, the neutral observer who witnesses the selfish behaviour of Edward and both his parents, yet who discreetly offers only as much advice as they're willing to hear. As Arnold and Evelyne are both deluded, Dr Parker serves as the drama's anchor in reality, enabling the audience to know whom to believe onstage, and where to place their sympathy. In a supporting role, Fulbert Janin is extremely poignant as Arnold's business associate whom he goads into a suicidal leap from his factory's roof.
I viewed a videotape of this production. Unfortunately, the audio recording was quite bad; combined with my imperfect grasp of French, this gave me some difficulty following the dialogue. With that caveat, I'll rate this production 7 points out of 10.
The well-known film version of 'Edward, My Son' (appropriately filmed in England) was deeply flawed due to Spencer Tracy's presence in the leading role. I greatly respect Tracy's craft as an actor, but he was often miscast. In 'Edward, My Son', he betrayed the character (and the story) by playing to the audience's sympathy. Also, as the main role was an Englishman, some awkward dialogue was inserted about Tracy's character being Canadian so as to spare him from attempting an English accent.
In all of its versions, 'Edward, My Son' is one of those dramas in which the title character is never seen: Edward is absent throughout, but constantly spoken about at great length by everyone else. In the MGM film, that was a weakness: the film opened up the stage material, forcing the audience to wonder why Edward (so central to the activities and thoughts of both his parents) was never present. This 1974 French television version reverts to the original staging, with only slight changes, and this makes it in many ways (despite the low budget and static camerawork) an improvement over MGM's movie. As we're clearly going to stay inside Arnold's factory, there's no expectation that the dilettante Edward will show up.
In this French version, the story and the characters' nationality are located to France, so there are some name changes and some dialogue revisions beyond the language change. Arnold is a ruthless industrialist. Speaking directly to the audience, he seeks to persuade us that everything he has done is a noble sacrifice to make life easier for his precious son Edward. Arnold's wife Evelyne is also expected to sacrifice for Edward. SPOILERS COMING. As the action progresses - with Arnold committing business crimes, and driving inconvenient people to suicide, all for the supposed benefit of Edward - we see that Arnold's motives are more selfish than he will admit, even to himself. Eventually, Edward dies (still offstage, in a 'plane crash), forcing his parents to examine the wisdom of their supposed sacrifices, and provoking Evelyne to renounce her selfish husband.
The gimmick of the central character remaining offstage and unseen has some benefits, but also causes difficulties. Michel de Ré performs the lead role of Arnold in a manner that prevents us from fully believing he sincerely loves his son Edward. Perhaps he doesn't; perhaps Arnold's professed devotion to his son is one more ego trip, enabling Arnold to congratulate himself on what a devoted father he is (and giving him another motive for rationalising his crimes). Because we never see Arnold and his son together, we can never determine if Arnold actually loves his son, or if Edward loves his father. The unseen Edward seems to be utterly selfish, in a dilettantish manner that's more obvious than the self-centredness of his father. There is a great air of futility to this production, but much of that is due to the source material. The stiff-upper-lip British flavour of the original seems to have given over to a generally blasé tone of Gallic shrugs in this translation. Or am I imposing cultural stereotypes upon my perceptions?
Michel Beaune is excellent as Arnold's only friend: Dr Parker, the neutral observer who witnesses the selfish behaviour of Edward and both his parents, yet who discreetly offers only as much advice as they're willing to hear. As Arnold and Evelyne are both deluded, Dr Parker serves as the drama's anchor in reality, enabling the audience to know whom to believe onstage, and where to place their sympathy. In a supporting role, Fulbert Janin is extremely poignant as Arnold's business associate whom he goads into a suicidal leap from his factory's roof.
I viewed a videotape of this production. Unfortunately, the audio recording was quite bad; combined with my imperfect grasp of French, this gave me some difficulty following the dialogue. With that caveat, I'll rate this production 7 points out of 10.