La symphonie fantastique

The scene when Berlioz writes "La Symphonie Fantastique" shows Gance's "Un Grand Amour De Beethoven " influence.But unlike Gance's work,Christian-Jaque film is more linear ,more academic (not meant pejoratively) Goebbels considered the film which infuriated him a patriotic film,enhancing the French past:in a scene at the beginning ,some FRench glories (or not-yet-ones) are gathered :Victor Hugo ,Alexandre Dumas ,Prosper Mérimée,Georges Delacroix the painter and the musician.That spirit recalls Guitry's spirit ("De Jeanne d'Arc à Petain" ) but in less reactionary form and with plenty of youth and enthusiasm, whereas Guitry's sounded like a dirge.

Jean-Louis Barrault is excellent as ever and there's a good supporting cast including Bernard Blier,Renée Saint-Saint-Cyr,Jules Berry as a cupid editor and Gilbert Gil as his son Louis (who,sadly died shortly after Marie).The weakness of the film lies in the fact that he seems to hit the big time overnight ;some lines on the screen and a spate of names of capitals are not enough to make us understand why Berlioz's music was finally praised to the skies.

A large part of the film is devoted to Berlioz's music.

Like this? try these.....

"Un Grand Amour de Beethoven" ,by Abel Gance

"D'Homme à Homme" ,by Christian Jaque ,also starring Barrault as the founder of the Red Cross

"La Part de l'Ombre" by Jean Delannoy,also starring Barrault.

This film was actually made in 1942 by Continental Films, a German-owned company set up by Nazi propaganda boss Goebbels. He wanted the studio to produce light entertainment films to keep the French population quiet during the war. When he saw this film he was outraged because he believed it was really a disguised appeal for French patriotism, so he arranged for it to be banned. That probably saved the film from disappearing altogether, because most of the films made under the Occupation were detested and banned after the war as symbols of collaboration with the Nazis. About the only film made for the studio which is respected today is the brilliant Le Corbeau by Clouzot.

In this age, the French movie studios produced a lot of low-budget biographical movies, most of which are very bad. La Symphonie Fantastique, about composer Hector Berlioz, is no exception: bad acting, sloppy backgrounds, pseudo-drama, and worst of all total inaccuracy. Persons that never existed play a lead role, and important people are never mentioned at all. You could argue that this isn't a documentary, but a historical drama, but the movie does announce itself as a biography and as far as 'drama' is concerned, there's more drama in a bucket of dying fish.

Which is a shame, not just for the fish but also for the drama: the life of Hector Berlioz, as he himself described it in his Memoirs, is very romantic and dramatic. A more modern approach could become a major success. Who bites?