In much the same way that his debut 'Lola' was influenced by an earlier film - Max Ophüls' 'Lola Montes' - Jacques
Demy's second feature draws inspiration from another, far more unlikely source: Robert Bresson's 'Pickpocket.' For roughly the first quarter of its
runtime, everything from the grey Parisian backdrop to the stolid protagonist (Claude Mann, in Bressonian dark suit) who descends into a disreputable
demimonde (the world of high stakes gambling) recalls the redemptive thrust of
the austere 1959 masterwork. (There's even an intricate roulette tutorial akin to 'Pickpocket's
thieving lessons, and several shots of currency being counted and exchanged that hint at the pervasive, corrupting influence of money.) When
the action shifts to Nice, however, Bresson's severe spell is broken. Just as
Mann cannot stifle a smile when he meets and falls for Jeanne Moreau's blonde
beauty, a "professional" roulette player who doesn't know when to
quit, Demy can't help but yield his camera more poetically when faced with the
romantic vistas of the French Riviera. Subjected to his dreamy gaze, beachfront
hotels ooze elegance, palm trees sway invitingly, and the lamps lining the
beach glow effervescently, as does Moreau, clad in all white. Demy's stylistic opulence and characteristically bittersweet themes
beat out Bresson's profound preoccupations; hence, the parallel between
the euphoric highs and ignominious lows of a gambling spree, and the
vertiginous emotional trajectory of an unexpected love affair.
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