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Mississippi MermaidRating:
Release Date: 23 January, 2001 Retail Price: $14.95 OUR Price: $12.99 You SAVE: $1.96! Cast: Complete Cast (5 total) |
Mississippi Mermaid Reviews
A ROMANTIC LOST IN THE XXth CENTURY
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.
Deneuve plays her role (s) with great skill.
"Mississippi Mermaid" is an early Francois Truffaut film, and if it looks familiar--it may be that you've seen "Original Sin"--the Angelina Jolie/Antonio Banderas remake of the film.
Louis Mahe (Jean-Paul Belmondo) plays a wealthy factory owner who lives on the small island, Reunion, near Africa. At the beginning of the film, Louis is eagerly expecting the arrival of his mail-order bride. Photo in hand, he impatiently waits for her to arrive, and when he is confronted with Julie Roussel (Catherine Deneuve) who is NOT the woman in the photo, he happily swallows the story that she sent him a photo of someone else--after all, they both engaged in minor deceits during their courtship by mail, so he overlooks the warning signals and marries her anyway.
Soon, Louis becomes suspicious about his new bride's real identity, but he continues to elect acceptance. However, when he receives a letter from Julie's sister demanding to know why she hasn't heard from Julie, he is forced to confront Julie. Julie promptly cleans out the joint bank account and disappears....
I have never been a fan of Jean-Paul Belmondo's. However, in this film, his facial expressions were extremely impressive, and I began to see that perhaps I overlooked him in the past. Catherine Deneuve plays a chilling Julie Roussel/Marion Vergano. At the beginning of the film, Deneuve plays the demure Julie, but when the persona of Julie is dumped, and Deneuve assumes the identity of Marion, an ice queen emerges. Whereas Angelina played the Julie/Marion role with sizzling passion, Deneuve is icy, controlling and evil. However, this is the precise reason that it was difficult to understand why Mahe continued to adore Julie/Marion. The partnership from hell theory just doesn't hold for the on-screen relationship between Mahe and Marion--there wasn't enough sexual chemistry to explain it. And perhaps it can't be helped given the age of the film, but Denueve did manage two topless scenes--one which almost causes a car accident!
The film is dated. The airplane travel scenes are tedious. When it is time for action, the camera just speeds up, and the effect is preposterous. However, "Mississippi Mermaid" is well worth a look if you are a die-hard fan of either French Cinema or Catherine Deneuve--displacedhuman, Amazon reviewer
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