Stendhal (Henri Beyle, 1783-1842) was a very difficult and debatabla author and extremely controversial as such, which he was all too well aware of himself, as he actually never expected his books to be read much, which they weren't in his day, while he foresaw, that "In 50 years, people will read me," which they did. He was fascinated by man's penchant for irrationality and enjoyed studying bizarre fates of people who threw themselves into trouble just for the thrill of it, especially if they knew how bad it was for them. In "Scarlet and Black" there are constant arguments of suicide, and although there is no actual suicide occurring in the novel, both the ladies are quite suicidal, while Julien Sorel himself proves his own pride by subjecting himself to them and wallowing in their suicidal natures. It is true, he really loves Madame de Renal, and she loves him, and they make a very credible couple, especially as Danielle Darrieux and Gerard Philipe are perfect for the roles, and both honour them perhaps more than they deserve. She is the one who ultimately destroys him, and it's intentional, and he takes the consequences and simply has to do what he can to destroy her in return in a glorious operatic performance of self-destruction. Stendhal's characters are no ideals, they are actually rather unsympathetic and highly egoistic, (Stendhal invented the term 'egotism',) but at the same time they are admirable for their consistency, as there never are any compromises. He wrote very few novels, they are among the most bizarre in world literature, but they will always remain fascinating. Claude Autant-Lara succeeds well in rendering, realizing and understanding the Stendhal syndrome, and the film is above all extremely stylish and beautiful, which high aesthetic qualities are greatly augmented by the exquisite music by René Cloérec, a composer hardly known at all, but his music here is enough to make him immortal. In brief, it is a very precious and unique production, for its aestheticism and exquisite beauty, doing honours to both the misanthrope Stendhal and the actors and the director, lifting out this extraordinary study in human destinies from the novel in rendering it alive on the screen.
