This title is tailor made for a melodrama,which "Quand Tu Liras Cette Lettre" is ,no more,no less.No matter if it's JP Melville's third movie ,even if the precedent user,a connoisseur of the French cinema could find some of the director's permanent features.As for myself,I did not find any but I must confess Melville is not my cup of tea.
First thing to bear in mind is that the two leads,Philippe Lemaire and Juliette Greco,got married the very year of Melville's "oeuvre" ,the marriage only lasted three years.But seeing them together is pretty odd,considering the chanteuse's -for Greco was first a singer- role:she is thoroughly cast against type ,this actress known for a her parts of good time gals or delinquents -her real debut was Duvivier's "Au Royaume Des Cieux",Cocteau's "Orphée" does not count -.Another extraordinary thing for the audience of 1953 -who probably knew all about the two leads' relationship-is that it takes one hour (you read well) before they share a scene!And when they finally "meet" ,it's not what the audience is expecting.As Kinsayder wrote it,Greco uses an impassible almost frightening Bressonesque delivery and easily steals the show ,if there is something to steal.The users who saw Melville's "Leon Morin Pretre" will notice the similitude between Greco's and Emmanuelle Riva's acting in the 1961 effort.Lemaire plays a mechanic and a gigolo ,but his character is too underwritten to suggest the "tormented soul" Therese commends to God .Boyish Daniel Cauchy,who would be Paulo in "Bob Le Flambeur" ,the follow-up ,appears as a bellboy (who's also a crook).
A desultory script and a story close to Harlequin romance do not amount to much .Only Greco's portrayal in the second part is worth the price of admission;it's much more stunning if you've seen the actress in her other parts ("The roots of Heaven", " The Sun also rises" ,"Au Royaume Des Cieux","Maléfices" and the excellent made-for-TV "Belphégor") As for Philippe Lemaire ,his career was tragic:in the sixties ,he was only offered lousy supporting parts in Bernard Borderie's movies ("Angélique" and "Pardaillan" );by the eighties ,he had stopped playing.His come back in a small part in "Arsene Lupin " circa 2004 was short-lived:the same year,he threw himself under the metro (subway).
First thing to bear in mind is that the two leads,Philippe Lemaire and Juliette Greco,got married the very year of Melville's "oeuvre" ,the marriage only lasted three years.But seeing them together is pretty odd,considering the chanteuse's -for Greco was first a singer- role:she is thoroughly cast against type ,this actress known for a her parts of good time gals or delinquents -her real debut was Duvivier's "Au Royaume Des Cieux",Cocteau's "Orphée" does not count -.Another extraordinary thing for the audience of 1953 -who probably knew all about the two leads' relationship-is that it takes one hour (you read well) before they share a scene!And when they finally "meet" ,it's not what the audience is expecting.As Kinsayder wrote it,Greco uses an impassible almost frightening Bressonesque delivery and easily steals the show ,if there is something to steal.The users who saw Melville's "Leon Morin Pretre" will notice the similitude between Greco's and Emmanuelle Riva's acting in the 1961 effort.Lemaire plays a mechanic and a gigolo ,but his character is too underwritten to suggest the "tormented soul" Therese commends to God .Boyish Daniel Cauchy,who would be Paulo in "Bob Le Flambeur" ,the follow-up ,appears as a bellboy (who's also a crook).
A desultory script and a story close to Harlequin romance do not amount to much .Only Greco's portrayal in the second part is worth the price of admission;it's much more stunning if you've seen the actress in her other parts ("The roots of Heaven", " The Sun also rises" ,"Au Royaume Des Cieux","Maléfices" and the excellent made-for-TV "Belphégor") As for Philippe Lemaire ,his career was tragic:in the sixties ,he was only offered lousy supporting parts in Bernard Borderie's movies ("Angélique" and "Pardaillan" );by the eighties ,he had stopped playing.His come back in a small part in "Arsene Lupin " circa 2004 was short-lived:the same year,he threw himself under the metro (subway).