Mississippi Mermaid (1969)
"La sirène du Mississipi" (original title)

Louis Mahe is a tobacco planter at Reunion Island. He is waiting for Julie Roussel to marry her. He only knows her by mail. The woman that comes does not like the picture he got, but he ... See full summary »

Director:

François Truffaut

Writers:

Cornell Woolrich (based on the novel by), François Truffaut (adaptation)

Stars:

Jean-Paul Belmondo, Catherine Deneuve, Nelly Borgeaud

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jean-Paul Belmondo	...	Louis Mahé
Catherine Deneuve	...	Julie Roussel / Marion Vergano
Nelly Borgeaud	...	Berthe
Martine Ferrière	...	Landlady
Marcel Berbert	...	Jardine
Yves Drouhet	...	Detective
Michel Bouquet	...	Comolli
Roland Thénot	...	Richard

Storyline

Louis Mahe is a tobacco planter at Reunion Island. He is waiting for Julie Roussel to marry her. He only knows her by mail. The woman that comes does not like the picture he got, but he marries her anyway. Soon, she flees with Louis' money. She was not the real Julie Roussel but Marion. Louis tries to find her... Another Truffaut's film about passion.

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Plot Keywords:

island | reunion island | reunion | antibes | love | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

GP

Details

Country:

France Italy

Language:

French

Release Date:

18 June 1969 (France)

Also Known As:

Mississippi Mermaid

Filming Locations:

Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

Box Office

Budget:

$1,600,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$3,668 (USA) (10 July 2009)

Gross:

$26,893 (USA) (18 March 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Films du Carrosse, Les Productions Artistes Associés, Produzioni Associate Delphos

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Quite uniquely, Truffaut chose to shoot the film almost completely in chronological order, the reason being that he found the relationship between the two main characters so important that he wanted it to develop in a natural way. He actually spent the nights re-writing the scenes he would film the next day, to follow the dynamics between the leading couple.

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Crazy Credits

Film ends with the english sentence "THE END" instead of the usual french word "FIN".

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Connections

References Gun Crazy (1950)

User Reviews

Romantic and suspenseful drama well realized by Truffaut in his own directorial style

This agreeable French movie deals about a millionaire owner of a tobacco factory on an African island nearly to Madagascar named Louis(Jean Paul Belmondo). He's a single man looking wife, then he advertises a bride and gets a gorgeous woman named Julia(Catherine Deneuve). When she spontaneously appears turns out to be much more attractive than expected. He marries to Julia but she suddenly disappears.A French eye private(Michael Bouquet) is hired by Julia's sister and soon he's on the trail of his previous spouse. Later Louis encounters her in a dancing-hall under another name. In spite of the romantic delusion and everything, Louis goes on enamored with his enigmatic wife.

This film is a splendid drama plenty of betrayal,deception, killing, theft and Hitchcockian suspense. Good performances by Jean Paul Belmondo as young proprietary of a cigarette company who seems determined to fall under the spell of a femme fatale and a wonderful Catherine Deneuve as suspect heroine. The film gets several references to the American cinema, but Truffaut(400 blows) was a fervent moviegoer, such as : Johnny Guitar, Colorado Jim, Bogart, and Hitchcock.The USA version was cut numerous minutes and deserves an urgent restoring and remastering. Loosely based on the novel titled'Waltz into darkness' by Cornell Woolrich (Rear window and screenwriter of Alfred Hitchcock hour) who also was adapted in 'Truffaut's The bride wore black'.Colorful cinematography by Denys Clerval(Stolen kisses) and atmospheric musical score by Antoine Duhamel, Truffaut's usual musician.This is one of the best of his suspense movies along with ¨Farenheit 451 and Shoot the piano player¨. Remade by an inferior version by Michael Christofer(2001) with Antonio Banderas, Angelina Jolie and Jack Thompson, full of erotic and lust scenes.