Mélo ( 淡淡哀傷)

Another film at the French Film Festival I saw was a quaint old film by a very stylish French cinéaste, Alain Resnais. It's a film based on a 1929 stage play by Henri Bernstein but made in 1986. It retains much of the atmosphere of the epoque and the flavor of the French stage: everything took place against two fixed sets with characters moving into and out of them: a patio garden of a violinist and the sitting room and then the bedroom of another violinist.

As the film opens, we see two friends having a good time reminiscing their former days together when they were at the music academy: Pierre Belcroix,(Pierre Arditi) and Marcel Blanc (André Dussollier) a well-traveled violinist and  Romaine Belcroix (Sabine Azéma ) a whimsical and fashionable young lady whom Pierre could never praise enough. After an intimate and beautiful evening at the garden, Marcel offered Romaine a chance to visit him despite his busy concert schedule, She took it up and suggested the following day but when he reluctantly accepted, she said she had an appointment with her coiffeur. But then she changed her mind again and they met. She played the piano, and he  the violin. It was a piece by Brahms (an echo of the romance between Clara Schumann and Brahms?) and an affair developed. Marcel could not resist her charm and she his and she visits him whenever he returns and before long, the two go on a trip together. Eventually, Romaine poisons her husband but he recovers. However, she could not bear to continue living between two good friends and committed suicide. Three years later, Pierre visits Marcel and presses him whether there was anything between him and his wife. Marcel denied. Perhaps he did not want to hurt his friend. Perhaps he did not want to admit to being a salaud. Perhaps he did so because he did not wish to tarnish the faith his friend had in his wife. What is the truth? Does it matter?

The filmography was very studied, the acting by all three actors excellent and the music good. The film won the César Award for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor.