A Certain Smile

Francoise Sagan's novels have all in my opinion suffered at the hands of writers and directors bringing her work to the screen. I even find the often praised Otto Preminger version of ' Bonjour Tristesse ' unconvincing, and like ' A Certain Smile ' suffers from uncertain casting. Only ' La Chamade ' made in French partly works in Sagan's favour despite again one poor actor nearly ruining it, and saved by Catherine Deneuve. But against all the odds against it I find ' A Certain Smile ' to be very watchable. Jean Negulesco catches the exterior's of Paris in the late 1950's well, and the film is worth watching for any Paris lovers. It is not the over polished Paris that we see now (I am talking of the centre and not the suburbs) and the sight of it caught at my throat with nostalgia. The sad news is that only one fairly to poor copy of this film seems to be available, and I cannot imagine why there is no decent DVD of it. Christine Carere has charm, but her tortured English is painful to hear. Rossano Brazzi was ill chosen, and looked rather bored as her older lover, and Bradford Dillman in his first role is very good indeed as Carere's ill treated boyfriend. And Joan Fontaine as Brazzi's wife is excellent, especially in the scenes where she confronts her husband with his infidelities. She is the most capable actor as she shows she has perhaps read the book closely enough to try to get to the heart of it. Despite perhaps justifiable criticism the film strangely works, and it is a shame that Christine Carere was not given more time in learning English, and those who decided to make the film should have realised that. She is good with the ending and that counts. And to repeat what I have said it is better than some other more worthy Sagan translations to the screen, and I could watch it more than once.