Desperate Decision (1952) User Reviews

Allégret gone crazy

[dbdumonteil · 12 February 2006]

THe FRench title means "the young crazy girl" but it's not the girl but the director who's gone crazy.Yves Allégret ,who had already made several excellent works (Une Si Jolie Petite Plage,Manèges,Nez de Cuir) ,gets lost in an Irish story.A chocolate box Ireland and French actors who,although excellent(Danielle Delorme,Jean Debucourt,Maurice Ronet),simply cannot play credible Irish characters.

Catherine falls in love with a man who has killed her brother!Then she kills him and goes nuts .The script is weak and it's the most disappointing of Allégret's movies.

Fortunately ,Allegret turned around from that disaster and his next movie "les orgueilleux" was among his best.

A scandal this one not yet restored

[mla195 · 8/10 · 28 May 2015]

Just read the opinion of our most prolific and usually excellent reviewer of french films and for once I felt in absolute disagreement and actually quite surprised at his harsh judgment on this rare and curious film of Yves Allégret.

To my knowledge it has not been restored for DVD and the only available source is an old René Château VHS itself made from a very poor copy. It certainly does not help to appreciate the great quality of cinematography of 'La Jeune Folle', an Allégret's trademark.

OK the story is rather weird and Irish people speak french, but so what ? Who can seriously think the film was intended as a documentary on the Irish insurrection ? Certainly not the director, nor the unbiased critics of his effort.

First and overall 'La Jeune Folle' is a superior demonstration of acting by Danièle Delorme. Should be sufficient to rate it as a classic. Supporting actors are good to excellent as Gabrielle Fontan playing an old nun far more nuts than the 'Jeune Folle' (mad young woman) who is an orphan exploited as a servant in a convent.

The film will also stay in memory for its extremely strong last sequences when a IRA member (Vidal) is tracked down by kids for the reward offered by the Brits. That treason can come from supposedly innocent Irish kids is already transgressive, it is made further scary by kids dressed up for Halloween wearing masks.

Definitely in wait for restoration.