Pensione Edelweiss (1959) User Reviews

strong murder subject but lacks madness except ...

[happytrigger-64-390517 · 6/10 · 11 January 2016]

"Sursis Pour Un Vivant" is a B french-Italian film noir adapted from a very interesting and original book by André Maurois, the french academician.

After a missed suicide, Jean Monnier (Henri Vidal) gets invited in a palace by Borcher (Lino Ventura) who arranges soft deaths for suicidal people. When Borcher plays an obsessional tune on piano, harmo or record, everybody knows that the same night, a member of the Palace will be softly killed.

Victor Merenda's direction has no invention and lacks tension and madness. Lino Ventura's character is very impressive but would have needed more strength, but yet he has some threatening and sadistic looks toward his victims, meaning "will you be the next one?" with a not so hidden sadistic smile.

Yes, this movie definitely lacks madness. Borcher's character is too much reserved until the amazing ending. I discovered this movie and was puzzled by this completely stupendous ending showing a too much violent Lino Ventura. I found a small poster representing the mad Lino and put it on my wall. And 15 years later, I needed to see again very mad Lino. I saw it on a channel specialized in thrillers : there wasn't the ending engraved in my memory. At the same time, I bought the DVD just released in the collection "the invisible of french cinema" : and still no right ending. In fact, both prints lacks 4 minutes : why? Were those four minutes showing an insane Lino Ventura deranging and censured? I found no answers. And now I think I must have dreamed those four minutes, but my poster shows that scene. And I'm still looking for an old tape of that strange movie, I really want to see again very mad Lino, and find why this ending was censored. Unless I really dreamed, none of my cinephilic friends remember that ending... Time will tell...

There is another version of André Maurois's story in the "Alfred Hitchcock Hour". I haven't seen it but the IMDb reviewers are not very enthusiastic. Other TV versions do not seem available except the 2006 version, "Thanatos", directed by georgian Otar Bubashvili and Bakur Lashkarava which has a very enthusiastic review.

Entertaining series B

[dbdumonteil · 9 June 2004]

If a French movie can be an equivalent of the American series B -not meant pejoratively,some of them are better than the "A"-,it 's this one. Very original,often suspenseful,with a lot of these unexpected twists today's audience is very fond of :to think of a remake would not be irrelevant since directing is just OK and could be improved with a great director -Merenda ,who made "pensione edelweiss" ,is virtually unknown and it's the actors -Ventura and Vidal- who save the movie.

But the plot is really exciting! A man(Vidal) who was injured in an accident (or was it a suicide attempt?) has a visitor in his hospital;the man suggests a strange deal:in exchange for a substantial amount of money,he will go to a hotel (Pensione Edelweiss)where ,when he does not expect it,he will be softly killed ("you'll live this world like a balloon which a child releases")When he arrives,he finds six other people who apparently registers the same desire :to leave this world for a better one.A scary hotel-keeper (Ventura)takes care of the residents and every time an ominous music is heard ,someone gets killed .Outside the fact that we do know the killer,it resembles Agatha Christie's 'ten little Indians" -the second version of this classic,filmed by George Pollock in 1965 , takes place in the mountains too ,complete with cable-car-.But Agatha Christie would never have allowed herself the ending!

The film succeeds in portraying these men and woman who've chosen to die and yet fear that it may be their turn when the sinister music comes again (sometimes Ventura plays it on the piano,sometimes it's a record,sometimes a harmonica)

Spoiler:the ending comes from Hitchcock's "suspiscion" mold ;"stuntman" is another good example ;and,like it or not ,Fincher's " the game" is not that much original because it is built around the same concept too.

A sad note:Henri Vidal was to die of a heart attack the following year.He was only 40.