by Allan Fish
(France 1971 132m) DVD1/2
Aka. Anne and Muriel/Two English Girls
I am a puritan in love
p Marcel Berbert, Claude Miller d François Truffaut w Jean Gruault, François Truffaut novel Henri-Pierre Roche ph Nestor Almendros ed Yann Deder m Georges Delerue art Michel de Broin cos Gitt Magrini
Jean-Pierre Léaud (Claude Roc), Stacey Tendeter (Muriel Brown), Kika Markham (Anne Brown), Sylvia Marriott (Mrs Brown), Marie Mansart (Madame Roc), Philippe Léotard (Diurka), Irene Tunc (Ruta), Mark Peterson (Mr Flint), David Markham (palmist), Georges Delerue (Claude’s agent),
There’s quite a sadness to be felt at the thought of how François Truffaut is perceived by the average person of my generation who calls themselves a film buff. If asked about Truffaut’s contribution to the cinema, they would very likely mention his performance as the scientist in Spielberg’s Close Encounters. Forgive me for saying this, but that’s like saying Orson Welles should be remembered for appearing in whisky commercials. That cameo came late in Truffaut’s career, with for me all his great films as a director behind him. And though Les Quatre Cents Coups and Jules et Jim are definite masterpieces of cinema to be covered later in this list, Deux Anglaises is his greatest and richest film. Like Jules, it’s based on a novel by Henri-Pierre Roche, and concerns a romantic ménage à trois in the early years of the century, but this time between two women and a man.
Claude Roc is sent for a holiday with his mother’s friend in Wales, where he encounters her two daughters, Anne and Muriel, having met the former in Paris. Over the following weeks, he becomes intoxicated by their presence and realises they are destined to play a large part in each other’s lives. But does he prefer the more open Anne or the staid, puritanical Muriel, who reserves her emotions behind dark glasses?
Though the central triangle is subtly developed, many have decried Léaud’s passivity as Claude. Yet in many ways that is the central premise to his character. He is captivated by the sisters’ beauty, but as a spectator, not a participant. Like the eternal artist, he observes without being observed and, like Truffaut himself in his distanced narration, he fails to connect his feelings. It’s this suppression of feeling that not only embodied the world of the belle époque, but its protagonists, and thus contriving to make the inevitable love scenes between Claude and the two sisters all the more emotional and tender. Indeed, the scene where he finally consummates his love for Muriel is climactic in more ways than one and filled with a longing, touching truth.
Many have called Truffaut’s work Proustian, and not without reason, with its emotions and period perfectly in tune with the rhythms of that most eclectic of authors. But there are countless literary references throughout the film, from Hugo to Dickens to Zola, and the décor and visuals have more than a touch of the Impressionists about them. Nestor Almendros’ photography is truly magical, not only in Paris and the gas-lit interiors, but in the gorgeous exteriors of the Welsh coastline, once again proving his uncanny ability to capture something in a foreign land that others could not (think of his mid-west in Days of Heaven and his Pacific rainforests in La Vallée). Delerue’s music is, as usual, integral to the piece and the actors interpret the characters’ emotions perfectly. Léaud deliberately remains a cipher, representing Truffaut himself by proxy (much like Mastroianni to Fellini), but Tendeter and Markham are mesmerising and haunting as the sisters, Almendros’ camera framing their faces in gorgeous close-up and distant iris outs. They represent the British fascination with things foreign (“the British are less open but have a logic and fantasy of their own” we are told), and the coldness of the emotions that surface, rather like the countless sculptures that permeate the film, including a wonderful display of Rodins in the last act. It may not be for everyone, but it’s an intoxicating trip into the follies of love and the price of seeing life through an artist’s eyes and the summation of its director’s career as a film-maker.
Excellent movie! A real wild card this high up on the list!
I enjoyed this review. Thanks, Dennis
Really enjoyed your review. It certainly whet my appetite to see it.
Interesting choice. Good review.. Thanks, Dennis
Yes, Dennis, Jason and Jon, Allan’s choice here is bound to raise a few eyebrows, but TWO ENGLISH girls is one of Truffaut’s most beautiful and relatively underestimated films. I feel it challenges THE 400 BLOWS and JULES AND JIM for the top spot. Allan again has written an exceedingly perceptive review.
Question; are all of Truffauts films available on American DVD. My local video store only has a few and I’d very much like to see this one and another favorite from the decade, SMALL CHANGE, again. Sam, with your vast collection of DVD’s, could you help me in this information or do you have them both as well? Thanks, Dennis
Dennis: Yes indeed, we are very lucky in this sense. Truffaut is on edirector who is excellently represented on DVD. THE 400 BLOWS, JULES AND JIM, TWO ENGLISH GIRLS, SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER, THE LAST METRO are on superb Criterion editions, while THE WILD CHILD, SMALL CHANGE, FAHRENHEIT 451 and others have been on DVD for quite a while. I do own all of these, and can copy.
This is my favorite Truffaut. Something mysterious about this film..
Thank you so much for the quick reply Sam. I remember being intoxicated by the simple beauty of SMALL CHANGE (in my opnion, one of Truffauts most underrated films) and the obvious visual splendor of the film reviewed above. I’ve often felt, and maybe I’m alone in my feelings here, that Truffauts films were a true extension of his soul and personal nature. If I remember it correctly, it was Spielberg who said that everyone of the people involved with CLOSE ENCOUNTERS were nervous about having this legend on the set. However, it was a child, 4 year old Cary Guffey, who warmed up to him almost instincively. They said children, in their innocence, can sense a gentle soul and it was this small boy who brazenly walked up to this feared figure and showed all around him that he really was nothing more than the sweetest guy. I feel there is a quality in Truffauts films that’s deeply humane as he was.
Excellent observations there Dennis! Kaleem may be right in calling this Truffaut’s greatest film.
I agree with you Kaleem, and I cannot put my finger on what it is precisely. Indeed, very mysterious. But, I also felt THE WILD CHILD and THE LAST METRO were of that quality as well. Somethings a bit off from reality??? But, whatever it is, this is a director whose films have given me great joy and pleasuer no matter what the critical intelligentsia may have said on occasion. Like Hitchcock, Kurasawa, Kubrick, Fellini, and to a slightly lesser extent, Allen, Scorsese and Spielberg: these are all filmmakers whose next works were always considered something special and something to look forward to in a given film year. SMALL CHANGE was one of those films that came to me by surprise and just completely took over me. I don’t know, but I always feel good after a Truffaut film.
Also. And not to try to take away from the film reviewed above; I’ve always thought there was something to be said for Truffaut as an actor. I’m remembering THE WILD CHILD right now and I recall how I felt about him being on screen. There was, at least for me, a sense of command and grace pontificated skillfully and at the same time. Some had taken issue over casting himself in that role, but looking back on it, I can think of no other person who could have brought as much humanity, understanding and grace to that role. Not to many filmmakers could keep both balls in the air at the same time. Oh well, I’m rambling. Allan really caught me (and I think others) off guard with this film although pleasingly so. Thanks, Dennis
I have long known of Allan’s great love for this film, and while I share it, I too was most surprised at this high placement, deserved as it may be.
I’ve always thought this film as well as ‘Mississippi Mermaid’ and ‘Shoot the Piano Player’ are the underrated (but most rich) film’s of Truffaut’s canon.
great review here too Allan, heightening a film that deserves such treatment.
Sam, I know this is a bit off topic…but you may be able to help.
You seem to be able to get your hands on films or know where are available. Maybe Alan can help too…
I’m looking for the following films, have they ever been released and are they avilable:
An Italian Straw hat (1927) – Rene Clair
Berkely Sqaure (1933) – Frank Lloyd
Alias Nick Beal (1949) – John Farrow (a marvellous noir and a film I’ve dying to watch for 15 years)
Occupe-Toi d’Amelie (1949)
Gate of Hell (1953)
bobby
whoops, I meant Allan, not ‘Alan’…..jeeeez
Bobby: I do have AN ITALIAN STRAW HAT and ALIAS NICK BEAL (the second one courtesy of our lovely Dee Dee) and I believe Allan just sent me GATE OF HELL. I don’t think I have the other two.
My e mail address is: TheFountain26@aol.com…..
Yes, I sent Sam Italian Straw Hat, Alias Nick Beal and Gate of Hell.
I wish I did have Occupe, Bobby, been after it for 20 years, and the only print I ever saw of Berkeley Square was very poor.
Sam, if you have Alias Nick Beal on DVDR, please send on.
Don( know if this might help any.. ALIAS NICK BEAL used to be part of AMC cable networks regular line up. Seems they used to show it 2 to 3 times a month. You might wanna check your local cable guide and scour that stations line up.
Dennis: Yes indeed. I know this film has been running on AMC and perhaps even Turner. Now that we have a solid DVD of the film, we can generally work from there. Thanks for the info.
No problem gentlemen.. Just trying to help..
And I recognize that and said thank you.
Allan (and those who left comments praising this movie), I’m sorry to have to go against the grain again. Truffaut is one of my favorite filmmakers, for me right up there in the pantheon alongside Hitchcock, Bergman, Welles, Kurosawa, Ozu, Renoir, Fellini, de Sica, Bunuel, and Ray. He made many films that I love, but I would have to say that the feeling this film left me with when I saw it on its release was disappointment. I just really felt let down. Although there is no denying that it was masterfully made, its story and emotions seemed to me trifling compared to “Jules and Jim.” Maybe because it was supposed to be the “true” story behind “Jules and Jim,” my expectations were too high. But it just did not move me the way the Truffaut works I consider his greatest did. The subject seemed to call for full emotional commitment on the part of the director, yet what I found was detachment. (“Stolen Kisses,” which some people love, didn’t do much for me either.) I do, however, remember the gorgeous photography well and can still picture that cliffside bungalow and garden now, nearly forty years later. I guess everyone’s response to a given film is different. I can think of three Truffaut films from the 70s that strike me as masterpieces (“The Wild Child,” “Small Change,” and “The Story of Adele H.”), but for me this just isn’t one of them. I’m sure many will disagree with this assessment, but I find that really good movie blogs like WitD inspire dissent as well as agreement.
Ah, R.D. Au Contraire!
In addition to the profound underpinning of mystery in the film broached by Kaleem Hasan, this is one of the director’s most romantic films, every bit the equal of JULES AND JIM, and in the scope of its presentation maybe beyond. All the insecurities, jealousies and yearnings surrounding young love is given one of the screen’s most exquisitely beautiful treatments, executed to perfection in color by the great cinematographer Nestor Almendros, and scored lushly by the equally celebrated Georges Delerue. It’s a deeply emotional film too beneath the surface, and the three films you mention there, while very nice, don’t approach TWO ENGLISH GIRLS intellectually either.
But hey, it’s the old story of ‘beauty being in the eye of the beholder’ and your typically astute and most welcome view is always greatly appreciated here. At the end of the day we are all admirers of Truffaut here. Thanks again.
I have to agree with R.D. Finch. Jules et Jim is a charmer and Two English Girls feels like the director (and perhaps the author too as this was his second book) capitalising on that charm and is therefore entirely charmless. Though I do think Truffaut is a bit overrated – apart from 400 Blows and J&J. In fact the not so famous new wavers seem more often than not far better than Truffaut and Godard.
Thanks very much AM for making your debut here at WitD. Who are the ‘not so famous’ New Wavers you are referring to here that are often ‘far better than Godard and Truffaut?’ In my mind there is no New Wave director better than Godard, not remotely in fact, even though I don’t like every one of his films. Are you speaking here of Rohmer?
Hi there I didn’t expect anyone to reply and thanks for the welcome!
Yes I did mean Rohmer (and Rivette and Varda, both of whom I like). I also find Malle’s work interesting and varied – but he is not strictly New Wave.
I can see why Godard is so well regarded but I feel he is a rather adolescent director – by that I mean that he is a director I liked in my 20s but cannot appreciate in my 40s. It seems to lack substance – especially political filsms like La Chinoise – whereas some of Rohmer which seems lightweight seems far more interesting later in life. But that’s just my personal opinion.
Thanks again AM. Well, we’ll have to agree to disagree on Godard, even if there hav ebeen some films by him that haven’t been so cinematically rewarding. he’s made a number of masterpieces though, that have him in my view at the forefront of the New Wave. I also love Rivette, and like you think malee has made som every good films, especially LACOMBE LUCIEN, AU REVOIR LES ENFANTS, ATLANTIC CITY (his one American effort) and a few of his earliest films. LA CHINOISE is not a good example as far as Godard goes. Think instead of TWO OR THREE THINGS, WEEKEND, BREATHLESS, MASULIN FEMININ. I have never been a fan of VARDA, but I acknowledge I am in the minority.
Thanks again.
Mr. Finch–
I can certainly see why you have feelings of disappointment with ‘Two English Girls.’ However (and I agree with Mr. Hasan here) this film posesses an exceeding mysterious quality. I also feel that ‘The Wild Child’ and others contain the same quality. I think some people embrace this quality while to others it doesn’t mean all that much. The film hasn’ta stronger level of emotionality as Sam contends, rather than ‘intellectuality.’
Of course everyone has their own opinions, as I’ve said about these particular films the acceptance is split with the adherents and detractors.
I am thriller, however, to see someone else on this blog embrace and champion ‘Small Change.’
This film I feel, is sorrowfully underrated, and is absolutely one of the gems by this director for this decade, as its a fascinating look at the innocence of children. I can’t say just how much that film moved me upon my first viewing.