'Les mariés de l'an deux' made in 1971 and directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau is an example of what in the 60s and 70s was a combination of period films and crowd-pleasers. They say that 'they don't make movies like this anymore', although I'm not sure that statement is very accurate. I think entertaining films with a historical background are still being made , but what is lacking is perhaps respectful care for historical details. Even if the adventures that take place on the screen cross the line between the possible and the impossible, "Les mariés de l'an deux" is absolutely believable in everything regarding the historical background. As the viewing of this film came for me two days after I had seen Ridley Scott's 'Napoleon', the comparison was inevitable - keeping all proportions of course. Rappeneau's movie is also known in the English-speaking markets as 'The Swashbuckler'.
The entire film is built around its lead star - Jean-Paul Belmondo. The actor plays the role of Nicolas Philibert, an adventurer who is exiled to America because he had killed in a duel an aristocrat who was flirting with his wife. He makes a fortune there, is about to marry the daughter of a very rich man, but first he has to get a French divorce certificate. He returns to France for this purpose and finds himself in the violent mess of the years after the French Revolution. He finds his wife (who had declared herself a widow and was also about to marry a royalist rebel) and the flame of love between the two is lit again. For the nearly 100 minutes of the film's duration, Belmondo runs, rides, shoots pistols and rifles, duels with swords and fights with fists, falls from heights and swims in the sea, courts and kisses women. He only stops when he's drugged and put to sleep, and not even then completely. The film begins with a prophecy made to the two future husbands in their childhood by a gypsy woman they met in a forest glade and ends in the Napoleonic period with the fulfillment of the prophecy, but not exactly the way the heroes expected.
In addition to the formidable Belmondo, we have Marlene Jobert with her familiar charm in the somewhat thin role of the wife, and a bunch of actors who build the human landscape of France at the time - revolutionaries and royalists, loyal friends and abject traitors, and especially beautiful women. One of the actresses is Laura Antonelli, who would become Belmondo's life partner for the next decade. I also noted Sami Frey, an actor I like a lot who had appeared in some of the important films of the new wave, the excellent comedian Julien Guiomar and Pierre Brasseur in one of his last roles. The action scenes are very well directed, the costumes and characters are authentic, and the whole production has rhythm and humor. The cinematography belongs to Claude Renoir, already then a veteran of French cinema, the nephew of the famous director Jean Renoir with whom he had collaborated decades ago. Michel Legrand's music accompanies everything and contributes to the gallant carnival atmosphere. 'Les mariés de l'an deux' is good entertainment that stands the test of time.
The entire film is built around its lead star - Jean-Paul Belmondo. The actor plays the role of Nicolas Philibert, an adventurer who is exiled to America because he had killed in a duel an aristocrat who was flirting with his wife. He makes a fortune there, is about to marry the daughter of a very rich man, but first he has to get a French divorce certificate. He returns to France for this purpose and finds himself in the violent mess of the years after the French Revolution. He finds his wife (who had declared herself a widow and was also about to marry a royalist rebel) and the flame of love between the two is lit again. For the nearly 100 minutes of the film's duration, Belmondo runs, rides, shoots pistols and rifles, duels with swords and fights with fists, falls from heights and swims in the sea, courts and kisses women. He only stops when he's drugged and put to sleep, and not even then completely. The film begins with a prophecy made to the two future husbands in their childhood by a gypsy woman they met in a forest glade and ends in the Napoleonic period with the fulfillment of the prophecy, but not exactly the way the heroes expected.
In addition to the formidable Belmondo, we have Marlene Jobert with her familiar charm in the somewhat thin role of the wife, and a bunch of actors who build the human landscape of France at the time - revolutionaries and royalists, loyal friends and abject traitors, and especially beautiful women. One of the actresses is Laura Antonelli, who would become Belmondo's life partner for the next decade. I also noted Sami Frey, an actor I like a lot who had appeared in some of the important films of the new wave, the excellent comedian Julien Guiomar and Pierre Brasseur in one of his last roles. The action scenes are very well directed, the costumes and characters are authentic, and the whole production has rhythm and humor. The cinematography belongs to Claude Renoir, already then a veteran of French cinema, the nephew of the famous director Jean Renoir with whom he had collaborated decades ago. Michel Legrand's music accompanies everything and contributes to the gallant carnival atmosphere. 'Les mariés de l'an deux' is good entertainment that stands the test of time.