I intervene surgically on my original comment to announce that this film, over and above appearing frequently on a certain number of French TV channels since December 2009, hast just been ISSUED ON DVD (yes, you heard right !!)in France. The DVD only has a French Audio soundtrack but there are optional French AND English subtitles which should henceforth make it accessible to anglo-saxon enthousiasts of French cinema. The quality of the film is a slight improvement on the version I saw in 1983 but we are not talking here of a pristine restoration job ! Indeed, the beginning and end credits seem no different from the former version but the body of the film seems to have been "cleaned up" although the audio is no great shakes. The two main protagonists, Gérard Philipe and Micheline Presle, were two of the finest French actors of their day. The film distills a truly weird atmosphere where parts of the soundtrack are played backwards to indicate flashbacks - the music played during the funeral scenes, sung by a sort of wailing choir, must rank amongst the weirdest and most sinister music I've ever heard in a film. The sheer insignificance of Marthe's death in relation to the overall joy at the Armistice being signed is striking. Gérard Philippe is experiencing internal sadness which is incomprehensible for the rest of the world around him. It appears that the original book by Raymond Radiguet caused quite a scandal at the time.The title theme music by René Cloarec is quite haunting and is available on a CD. A remake was made in the late 90's but is not a patch on the original. The film starts with an aeroplane overflying Eastern Paris and several well known buildings such as the Gare de Lyon are instantly recognizeable ! Most of the action, the situation of the school and the boat trip takes place at Nogent-sur-Marne, a few miles east of Paris in the guinguette country.
Review of Devil in the Flesh
