They say "les Fruits Sauvages" is a dated movie.Well the same could be said of the overpraised overrated "les 400 Coups" If the first fifteen minutes were obviously inspired by GW Pabst's "DIE Freundlose Gasse"-the alcoholic father trying to "sell" his daughter to a shopkeeper who covets her-,the rest predates another movie of the eighties "Hors La Loi" which retains a small cult in France and even abroad .
"Les Fruits Sauvages" depicts two worlds :Maria's tragical one and the others' providential world .Maria's fate is sealed almost as soon the movie begins .After she accidentally killed her father,she will be with the group of fugitives but not really part of the fugitives.She knows her way is not the straight and narrow:she refuses Hans 's love and she sleeps with the lecherous shepherd.
Like the three heroes of the contemporary "rebel without a cause" ,the small group of youngsters takes refuge in a place where nobody can find them :a deserted old village .One should note that the Nouvelle Vague had not (happily) happened and however "Fruits Sauvages" was almost entirely filmed on location ,and the heroes are young people (another permanent feature of the N.W.):but these heroes come from much poorer families ,nothing to do with Truffaut's Antoine Doinel whose mother was graduated .
In their village they try to re-create a world without grown-ups and they have to cope on their own for food and water ,which is a problem in these deserted areas of Haute-Provence .Two of them are in love and they celebrate their wedding:the "priest" is a twelve-year-old who repeats the macho lines of the Holy Writ: "Man is head of the family as Jesus is head of the Church".
For the fugitives bar one ,these are almost holidays (they have probably never been on holiday before ),games ,in a pastoral world which is providential: isn't there a "miracle" in the old church where the brat sees a saint moving (it does not matter if it is caused by a squirrel)?The boyish look of Hans (Roger Dumas) shows he is not yet a man ...
...and thus incapable to understand and love Maria (Estella Blain) who knows that she won't escape from a terrible fate .Her beautiful strained face tells the whole story,a smile never lights it up.Estella Blain's performance recalls extremely overlooked Andrée Clement's great roles but she was not as gifted as her.
Estella Blain was born Micheline Estellat (hence her first name) and married Gerard Blain,another cursed actor -and director (hence her surname) ;they got divorced a few years later.Estella Blain's career went downhill after the fifties :in the sixties ,her most famous role was a supporting part (Madame De Montespan) in "Angelique Et Le Roi" (1966).Alone and disappointed by the failure of her career she shot herself to death in 1982:she was completely forgotten.At the time "Les Fruits Sauvages", this lovely little movie of the fifties ,was largely forgotten too and nobody compared her tragical death in the movie and in real life.
Like this?try these....
"Les Loups Dans La Bergerie" ,same director,Hervé Bromberger(1959)
"Hors La Loi" Robin Davis (1984
"Les Fruits Sauvages" depicts two worlds :Maria's tragical one and the others' providential world .Maria's fate is sealed almost as soon the movie begins .After she accidentally killed her father,she will be with the group of fugitives but not really part of the fugitives.She knows her way is not the straight and narrow:she refuses Hans 's love and she sleeps with the lecherous shepherd.
Like the three heroes of the contemporary "rebel without a cause" ,the small group of youngsters takes refuge in a place where nobody can find them :a deserted old village .One should note that the Nouvelle Vague had not (happily) happened and however "Fruits Sauvages" was almost entirely filmed on location ,and the heroes are young people (another permanent feature of the N.W.):but these heroes come from much poorer families ,nothing to do with Truffaut's Antoine Doinel whose mother was graduated .
In their village they try to re-create a world without grown-ups and they have to cope on their own for food and water ,which is a problem in these deserted areas of Haute-Provence .Two of them are in love and they celebrate their wedding:the "priest" is a twelve-year-old who repeats the macho lines of the Holy Writ: "Man is head of the family as Jesus is head of the Church".
For the fugitives bar one ,these are almost holidays (they have probably never been on holiday before ),games ,in a pastoral world which is providential: isn't there a "miracle" in the old church where the brat sees a saint moving (it does not matter if it is caused by a squirrel)?The boyish look of Hans (Roger Dumas) shows he is not yet a man ...
...and thus incapable to understand and love Maria (Estella Blain) who knows that she won't escape from a terrible fate .Her beautiful strained face tells the whole story,a smile never lights it up.Estella Blain's performance recalls extremely overlooked Andrée Clement's great roles but she was not as gifted as her.
Estella Blain was born Micheline Estellat (hence her first name) and married Gerard Blain,another cursed actor -and director (hence her surname) ;they got divorced a few years later.Estella Blain's career went downhill after the fifties :in the sixties ,her most famous role was a supporting part (Madame De Montespan) in "Angelique Et Le Roi" (1966).Alone and disappointed by the failure of her career she shot herself to death in 1982:she was completely forgotten.At the time "Les Fruits Sauvages", this lovely little movie of the fifties ,was largely forgotten too and nobody compared her tragical death in the movie and in real life.
Like this?try these....
"Les Loups Dans La Bergerie" ,same director,Hervé Bromberger(1959)
"Hors La Loi" Robin Davis (1984