Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

Onlinewsma Absolutely Brilliant!

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

morrison-dylan-fan Talking to a fellow IMdber on the Classic Film board about movies made during the Occupation of France,I got told about an excellent sounding title written by auteur film maker Jean Cocteau that I have never heard of before.Deciding to watch 5 French films related to the Occupation era,I decided to find out if this is burning an eternal flame.The plot:Visiting his family in a secluded castle, Patrice finds that his uncle Marc is being mistreated by jealous relatives Achille, Gertrude and Gertrude Frossin.Desperate to bring some light into Marc's life,Patrice makes a deal with Marc,which involves Patrice finding a wife for him,who will hopefully bring some happiness into Marc's life.Living under the constant threat of getting married to a violent man, Nathalie la blonde decides to escape to a near by island,with the only object that she takes being a remedy in a jar marked "poison",which a relative claims will lead to any man who drinks it falling deeply in love with her.Meeting Patrice on the island,Nathalie soon finds that despite Marc's various attempts to catch her eyes,that her gaze solely on Patrice.Desperate to put an end to their blossoming fairy tale romance, Achille decides to one night secretly give Patrice & Nathalie the "poison",which leads to Patrice & Nathalie soon developing an eternal love between each other,from which there is no return.View on the film:Accused at the time of germanophilia,director Jean Delannoy & cinematographer Roger Hubert give Nathalie la blonde (talk about a subtle last name!) and Patrice an almost alien appearance,due to Delannoy and Hubert covering Nathalie and Patrice in an elegant light,which whilst originally seen as giving them a "pure"/Aryan look,actually show Nathalie & Patrice's love to be a fairy tale romance.Contrasting the ultra-stylised appearance of the lovers,Delannoy give Patrice's household a murky,gritty atmosphere,with Delannoy keeping any bright lights to a minimum,which allows for the dark,deceitful shadows of the Frossin's world to be revealed,as Delannoy shows the darkness from the Frossin's slowly "poison" Nathalie and Patrice fairy tale world.Bringing the Tristan and Isolde legend to Vichy France,the screenplay by Jean Cocteau takes a sly allegorical shot,with Nathalie and Patrice households being shown on 2 different island,with one being wealthy and prosperous,whilst the other has almost returned to the Medieval ages.Keeping away from focusing too much on the allegorical elements,Cocteau keeps modern machinery to its lowest possible levels (such as people having cars,but no phones at all) in order to tell a fantastic fairy tale,with Cocteau delicately building a real sense of love between Nathalie & Patrice,which the Frossin household tries to tear away from reaching its happy ending. Running across the screen like Satan's little helper, Piéral gives a wickedly evil performance as Achille Frossin,with Piéral stealing every scene he is in with a wide devilish smirk which contains a deadly relish,as Achille sets his sights on turning Patrice & Nathalie's love into a doomed romance.Blocking their love, Jean Murat gives a great performance as Marc,who Murat shows has an initially playfulness towards Patrice,which slowly turns into an uncompromising sternness,as Marc finds himself having to force Nathalie and Patrice love apart.Looking absolutely radiant, Madeleine Sologne gives an extraordinary performance as Nathalie la blonde.Being separated from Patrice,Sologne gives Nathalie a raw vulnerability ,by covering her face with a naked soulfulness that perfectly shows the sorrow that Nathalie is carrying for her love. Aching to see his love again, Jean Marais gives a brilliant performance as Patrice which balances the light fairy tale atmosphere with the allegorical undertones,thanks to Marais giving Patrice a real passion in his voice,whilst turning his face into a "pure" shell,which finally cracks as the film shows Patrice & Nathalie la blonde love to enter an eternal return.

dbdumonteil The first Cocteau/Delannoy collaboration.That would not be the only one ("la Princesse de Clèves,1961).Like "les Visiteurs du Soir" ,"l'Eternel Retour" was the typical Occupation movie : a way to keep reality away .But whereas Carné's work was hailed as an attack against Hitler (Jules Berry's devil was supposed to represent the Fuhrer),Cocteau-Delannoy's fans was sometimes accused of germanophilia.But with hindsight,it's talking nonsense:even if Patrice was a fair-haired Tristan,Jean Marais joined the army and he fought against Nazi Germany.One thing for sure: Jean Marais made his sweater fashionable,and Madeleine Sologne did the same with her hairdo.This is the "Tristan and Isolde" legend transposed to the contemporary era.Tristan becomes Patrice,Isolde becomes Nathalie (one of the two Nathalie because,like in the story,there are two of them),King Mark simply turns into "Oncle Marc".The dwarf,Frossin,is also featured and is played by Piéral who also appeared in "La Princesse de Clèves" and many historical films.This is really a good directing job by Jean Delannoy,too often slagged off by the Young Turks of the New Wavelet.The castle and the misty banks of the lake are haunting.And Jean Marais is ideally cast as Patrice/Tristan.If you are interested in the FRench cinema,this is essential viewing.

MartinHafer This movie was written by Jean Cocteau and it's pretty obvious due to the odd plot twists, romantic tone and mythological roots to the plot. Just a few years later, he was to BOTH write and direct Beauty and the Beast and Orpheus. These two are better films than The Eternal Return, though this movie is still worth watching--particularly as it shows and evolution of Cocteau's ideas. So, this movie is sort of like and unpolished version of these two later movies in many ways--particularly Orpheus. Absent from this film are the odd camera tricks but the story elements are all here.The love between the two main characters is best described as a combination of the tragic stories of Orpheus and Eurydice along with Romeo and Juliet, but I have recently been informed that the story is ACTUALLY a reworking of the story of Tristan and Isolde. Thrown in for good measure are a malevolent dwarf, the dwarf's detestable parents and a lot of cool plot twists.However, there were a few things that just didn't work out well in the movie. First, when it was obvious that the crazed dwarf had tried to kill the lovers by offering them what he thought was poison, nothing was done to punish him or place him in an institute for the criminally insane. This is pretty prudent considering what the dwarf does LATER in the story! Second, I hate movies that feature ladies fainting. Unless there is a blow to the head or they've gone without eating for a very extended period of time, people DON'T just faint. This is such a stupid cliché and I'm a little surprised that anyone as innovative and intelligent as Cocteau would resort to this device.Other than that, it's a nice film.FYI--An IMPORTANT warning: The video I watched was from The International Collection from Nelson Entertainment. If there are any OTHER companies that make this video, try them first!!!! The captioning was absolutely horrible!! Often, much of the dialog was not subtitled or very long statements were boiled down to one or two words!!! They showed very little respect for the integrity of the movie!

Draecke A spectacular and beautiful film, and perhaps one of the best movies ever made. In the roles of an updated Tristan and Isolde, Sologne and Marais are a stunningly handsome couple. This powerful romantic tragedy transcends the ephemeral world of politics altogether and carries us into the realm of dreams & legend, as "Beauty & the Beast" did so well. Its theme and sense of style actually have much in common with many German films of its time. Admirers of the art of Jean Cocteau will not be disappointed.