Henri Beyle Stendhal Movies
Produced for French television, this two-part screen adaptation of the classic novel by Henri Beyle Stendhal concerns two women and the price they pay for loving a man eager to climb the ladder of elite society. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carole Bouquet, Kim Rossi Stuart, (more)
- 1993
Published in 1830, Stendhal's landmark historical novel Le Rouge et le Noir has long been required reading in college literature courses, but has generally defied most attempts at adaptation to other mediums. Noteworthy exceptions include the 1954 theatrical-film version by director Claude Autant-Lara, and this four-part British miniseries, titled Scarlet & Black. Set in France in the immediate post-Napoleonic era, the series chronicled the exploits of Julian Sorel (Ewan McGregor), a humble carpenter's son who hoped to scale the heights of European society and affluence. Sorel realized his goal faster than he expected through a series of beneficial romantic liaisons, but in the end there was a terrible price to pay. In addition to star Ewan McGregor, the series was a major boost to the career of young actress Rachel Weisz (cast as Mathilde), as well as another feather in the cap for established leading lady Alice Krige (as Mme. de Renal). Scarlet & Black was seen over BBC2 from October 31 to November 4, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ewan McGregor, Alice Krige, (more)
- 1977
Before it became possible (in the late 19th and early 20th centuries) to imprison young heirs and heiresses in mental institutions in order to gain control of their inheritances, greedy families had for centuries "given" their daughters to convents without the girls' consent. Usually, such nunneries were only nominally religious, and their involuntary inhabitants lived a life of relative ease and luxury compared to their genuinely religious (or poorer) sisters. In the film Interno di un Convento, a zealous, handsome priest, who is the confessor for a convent full of such women, encourages the equally zealous abbess of one such institution to enforce the same strict rules on these unfortunate women that are applied to others. In doing so, they uncover a snake pit of sexual couplings, both lesbian and heterosexual, as well as many tools for masturbation. At the same time, a particularly disturbed inmate manages to poison herself and many of the other novitiates in yet another scandal which is covered up by church authorities. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marina Pierro
From the Middle Ages onward, certain monasteries and nunneries were basically elegant retirement homes for rich noblemen and noblewomen. The position of abbot or abbess at one of these institutions often carried with it considerable wealth and worldly power. So it comes as no surprise that the elegant nuns of Sant'arcangelo in Naples should fight for the position of Mother Superior of their nunnery; it has a charter to huge quantities of gold from the New World. Nor should it surprise anyone that this squabble attracted the interest of powerful figures in the church. This Italian/French drama, based on a story by Henri Stendahl, focuses on the characters of the nuns, noblemen and churchmen involved in this dispute, which eventually came under the scrutiny of the Holy Inquisition. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1967
Lamiel (Anna Karina) is a poor orphan girl who climbs her way to the social elite in this 19th-century costume drama. A doctor (Michel Bouquet) lives vicariously through Anna as he oversees the progress of his female protégé. Lamiel finds love with a young thief who steals into her bedroom after her marriage to a penniless count (Jean-Clause Brialy), and the two experience a romantic rendezvous of forbidden love after Lamiel goes from being a poor peasant woman to living a life of comparative luxury. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Karina, Jean-Claude Brialy, (more)
- 1965
Michel Piccoli stars as an amorous dentist whose philandering seemingly knows no bounds. He is no sooner shooing such lovelies as Anna Karina and Elsa Martinelli out the back door than he is welcoming such "new blood" as Joanna Shimkus into his living room. When Shimkus demands a commitment, Piccoli runs home movies of his past girlfriends, insisting all the while that he has forgotten them and that Joanna is the only woman in his life. The very next day he's running his movies for still another woman, and the song continues. De L'Amour is based on an 1822 novel by Stendhal (who would have been visionary indeed if he'd included all those home movies!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Piccoli, Jean Sorel, (more)
- 1961
Robert Rossellini's Vanina Vanini was released in many US markets as The Betrayer. Based on a Stendhal novel, the film is set in Italy during the turbulent years of the mid-19th century. Princess Vanini (Sandra Milo) confronts a strange looking woman in her palace. The woman turns out to be a man (Laurent Terzieff), an Italian revolutionary on the run from government troops. Princess and rebel fall in love, but when he leaves her for another, she jealously turns him over to the authorities. She offers to have his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment, but he savagely rebuffs her. After his execution, Vanini retreats to a monastery, where she ends her days. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandra Milo, Laurent Terzieff, (more)
- 1954
Stendhal's brilliant but difficult novel Le Rouge et le Noir all but defies transfer to film, but adaptor/director Claude Autant-Lara comes within shouting distance of full success. Stripped to essentials, the plot concerns Julien Sorel (Gerard Philipe), a carpenter's son who becomes a tutor. While his duties do not include the seduction of his employer's wife (Danielle Darrieux), Sorel offers this service free of charge. After this episode, Sorel becomes a priest...and the story isn't over yet. Though the director is too doggedly literal in his adaptation at times, and despite the fact that Gerard Philipe was about ten years too old for the part of Jean Sorel, Le Rouge et le Noir manages to hold the audience in its thrall for 2 hours and 50 minutes (most American prints, retitled The Red and the Black, run only 140 minutes). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Philipe, Danielle Darrieux, (more)
- 1953
Deux Crimes d'Amour (Two Love Crimes) is comprised of two separate, but thematically linked, short films. "Mina de Vangel," directed by Maurice Clavel and Maurice Barry, is based on a novelette by Stendhal (The Red and the Black), wherein a starry-eyed German lass (Odile Versois), betrayed by a French roue, vainly tries to find happiness with a decent man (Alain Cuny) for whom she works as a domestic. The second film is the award-winning "Le Rideau Cramoisi" ("The Scarlet Curtain"), adapted from a short novel by Barbey D'Aurevilly and directed by Alexandre Astruc. When a Napoleonic soldier (Jean-Claude Pascal) is billeted with a French family, all social proprieties are observed--a first. But a chance physical contact with the enigmatic daughter (Anouk Aimee) of the household leads to a torrid romance, which in turn leads to tragedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Odile Versois, Alain Cuny, (more)
- 1953
Les Amants de Toledo was filmed in four different versions: French, Spanish, Italian and English. The cast, however, remained constant throughout. Pedro Armendariz stars as Don Blas, the seemingly corrupt police chief of Toledo, Spain. When Ines (Alida Valli), the girl friend of condemned insurrectionist Fernando (Gerard Landry), pleads for her lover's life, Don Blas shows mercy--if Ines will agree to marry him. Theirs is a hate-hate relationship until, unexpectedly, Don Blas shows himself to have a glimmer of humanity. Now in love with her husband, Ines is in a quandary when Fernando re-enters her life. Filmed in early 1952, the English-language version of Les Amants de Toledo, retitled Lovers of Toledo, was made available in the U.S. the following year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alida Valli, Pedro Armendáriz, (more)
