Les deux anglaises et le continent (1971)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

François Truffaut

Writers:

Henri-Pierre Roché (novel)
François Truffaut (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

18 November 1971 (France)

Genre:

Romance | Drama

Plot:

At the beginning of the 20th century, Claude Roc, a young middle-class Frenchman meets in Paris Ann Brown...

Plot Keywords:

Paris | Love | Letter | Marriage | Nudity

Cast

Jean-Pierre Léaud	...	Claude Roc
Kika Markham	...	Ann Brown
Stacey Tendeter	...	Muriel Brown
Sylvia Marriott	...	Mrs. Brown
Marie Mansart	...	Madame Roc
Philippe Léotard	...	Diurka
Irène Tunc	...	Ruta
Mark Peterson	...	Mr. Flint
Georges Delerue	...	Claude's Business Agent
Marie Iracane	...	Madame Roc's maidservant
Marcel Berbert	...	Vendeur d'art
Jeanne Lobre	...	Porter
David Markham	...	Palmist

Also Known As:

Two English Girls (Canada: English title) (USA) (cut version)
Anne and Muriel (UK)
Les deux anglaises (France) (reissue title)
Two English Girls and the Continent (International: English title) (informal literal title)

Runtime:

USA:108 min (cut version) | France:116 min (cut version) | 130 min (director's cut) | Argentina:120 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Australia:M | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Sweden:11 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Auderville, Manche, France

Company:

Les Films du Carrosse

Trivia:

Anne's last words in the film are, "If you send for a doctor, I will see him now." These were writer Emily Brontë's last words before she died, Truffaut who was an avid reader probably used her words in the film as an homage or to compare her to the character of Anne.

Movie Connections:

References Jules et Jim (1962)

Not bad, but shame about that voice-over...

A mildly moving, inoffensive Truffaut movie about a young French bloke (played by Truffaut regular Jean-Pierre Léaud, far more remarkable in movies such as Les Quatrecent Coups) who in turn romances two English (or rather, Welsh!) sisters, set during the first decade of the 20th century. It's a French movie and features a love triangle, so that for a start could have turned it into a potentially unoriginal and cliché-ridden affair. Yet the main problem I had with it wasn't so much the well-treaded theme of the love triangle, as the voice-over which somehow gave the feeling the narrative was rather weak (and I suspect it was). The characters of the two sisters, especially the older sister, were surprisingly better drawn than the male lead's (or maybe it just had something to do with the fact the two actresses playing them were more appealing than the inexpressive, boyish Léaud - I simply could not bring myself to believe that these two girls would both feel so attracted to such a bland young man! He was definitely more engaging as Antoine Doinel!). The movie was also successful at portraying something of the difficulty in relations between the sexes in the Edwardian era - how young men and women really needed to go clandestine if they hoped to even get to know each other decently (not just carnally but also emotionally). The issue of women's sexuality, and how it was virtually denied them in this epoch - the price to be paid for so-called respectability - is also a theme that's successfully conveyed by the movie. How could a woman rightfully claim her own sexual identity in such a day and age? An interesting question worth raising. Fortunately, we were spared any simplistic clichés contrasting "libertine France" vs. "strait-laced Britain" as well.

This is on the whole also a good-looking movie, with lovely sets, costumes and photography. One question: why does everyone in the movie (including the title) keep referring to the two sisters as English when they live in Wales and define themselves as Welsh?