The Eternal Husband (1946)
"L'homme au chapeau rond" (original title)

An adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "Le Eternel Mari", a somber story of marital infidelity, revenge and near madness, and starring Raimu in his last film appearance.

Director:

Pierre Billon

Writers:

Pierre Brive, Fyodor Dostoevsky (novel),

Stars:

Raimu, Aimé Clariond, Gisèle Casadesus

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Raimu	...	Nicolas Pavlovitch
Aimé Clariond	...	Michel
Gisèle Casadesus	...	Marie
Arlette Merry	...	Mathilde
Louis Seigner	...	Magistrat
Jane Marken	...	Amélie, la mère
Made Siamé	...	La gouvernante
Thérèse Marney	...	Clotilde
Maud Lamy	...	Elisabeth
Colette Georges	...	Adéläide
Adrienne Alain	...	Anna
Gisèle Alcée	...	Lucie
Micheline Boudet	...	Agathe
Françoise De La Halle	...	Mathide
Janine Villard	...	Lily

Storyline

An adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "Le Eternel Mari", a somber story of marital infidelity, revenge and near madness, and starring Raimu in his last film appearance.

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Plot Keywords:

melodrama | based on novel

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

8 January 1949 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Eternal Husband

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alcina

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

User Reviews

More skies of gray than any Russian play can guarantee..

This little-shown French film (I saw it last night on Ontario's French TFO network) is the second of two French films based on Dostoyevsky novels that were produced in France in 1946 with roughly the same personnel and writing by Charles Spaak, the other being "L'Idiot".

It is unremittingly dark. As such, the Russian cult for frankness (to the point of squalor) was in tune with the prevailing "existentialist" atmosphere of post-WW II France. The story shows the devastating effect on a widower of learning of his wife's infidelities on her death-bed. The film follows the troubled relationship and natural antagonism between the widower Nicolas (Raimu in his last and most troubling performance) as the "eternal husband", and the probable biological father of his young daughter, Michel (Aimé Clariond), as the "eternal seducer".

This simple tale allows the characters to navigate the troubled waters of resentment in every one of its unhealthy phases and concludes the only way it can, which is rather unsatisfactorily, but not before a couple of heart-stopping revelations. It also allows the actors to wallow into psychological skulduggery and the analysis of spiritual mediocrity in a way that usual French stage conventions would not normally allow.

In short, it is an unremitting portrait of a facet of life one does not normally dwell upon and whose depressing character is only alleviated by the general excellence of the actors and the realistic depiction of bourgeois Russian society.