Cavalcade d'amour (1940)
Directed by Raymond Bernard

Film Review

Immediately after Les Otages (1938), director Raymond Bernard and dramatist Jean Anouilh teamed up for another film with an existentialist underpinning, albeit in a somewhat more tongue-in-cheek vein.  Influenced no doubt by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, the question of free will was one that Anouilh took a great deal of interest in around this time, and it impinges on much of his work (films and plays) of the 1940s.  Cavalcade d'amour is interesting not only because of its existentialist associations - demonstrated by the inability of successive generations to marry for the right reasons - but also because it is one of the earliest examples of the portmanteau anthology film, consisting of self-contained stories linked by a common theme.  This kind of film was comparatively rare in the 1930s and 40s, but became very popular in France in the 1950s and 60s.

In Cavalcade d'amour, the three similar stories (taking place in the same location, in three different periods in history) have in common Michel Simon and Claude Dauphin, who both have tremendous fun delineating their three distinct characters.  Raymond Bernard appears to have given Simon free rein to indulge his comic excesses, particularly in the first segment where he hams things up to an outrageous degree as the hammiest of itinerant actors (to be fair, the style of acting in the 1600s was not what you would ever call naturalistic).  Even as a 19th century prelate, Simon is still hilarious, and as a 1930s capitalist he brims with mischief.  Dauphin is the lucky fellow who, throughout history, attracts the finest examples of female pulchritude as easily as a magnet collects pins.  After a dalliance with Janine Darcey ends in a nasty spot of pre-Revolution mutilation, Dauphin jumps forward two hundred years and ends up being torn between Blanchette Brunoy and Simone Simon (last seen together in Jean Renoir's La Bête humaine).  Despite her ethereal beauty and obvious sex appeal, Mlle Simon gets the thumbs down and this may be why she cleared off to Hollywood and ended up in such films as Cat People (1942) and Curse of the Cat People (1944).  With two amorous mishaps to his name, Daupin looks set to complete the hat trick one century on with Corinne Luchaire, but thankfully the fates, or rather the vagaries of the stock market, intervene to prevent the film ending on a downer.

Cavalcade d'amour may not be Raymond Bernard's greatest work but it demonstrates the director's flair for storytelling and his remarkable versatility in a film that encompasses the extremes of drama and comedy.  The production design is excellent, each of the three time periods vividly represented by some superb set design and differing styles of lighting.  The first segment, a fairytale set in the 17th century, bleakly anticipates its nightmarish ending with its shadowy castle interiors and some grotesque imagery.  By contrast, the 1800s are illustrated by a conspicuous elegance that positively breathes the perfumed essence of the romantic era.  For the 20th century segment, the château location acquires an Art Deco makeover that reflects the power of its latest occupant, and also the sad sterility of his unfulfilled life.  Creating a template for future portmanteau films, Raymond Bernard succeeds in giving each of his three stories a separate identity, whilst at the same time bringing them together to form an intensely satisfying triptych.

Film Synopsis

For hundreds of years, the château de Maupré has brought misfortune to its inhabitants, as those who choose to wed within its walls are destined to wed unhappily.  In 1639, Julie de Maupré is to marry a man she has never seen but before she meets her future husband she falls in love with Léandre, a handsome young actor with a company of travelling players.  Julie is horrified to find that her chosen husband is a misshapen brute, but her attempt to elope with Léandre ends in tragedy.  Two centuries on, preparations are under way for the marriage of Count Hubert to his cousin Léonie.  Juliette, a young dressmaker from Paris, falls madly in love with Hubert as soon as she sees him, and he seems to reciprocate her feelings.  Alas, Juliette does not belong to Hubert's privileged world and she dies from a broken heart as the marriage proceeds as planned.  In 1939, Monsieur Lacouret, a successful financier, intends that his daughter Junie should marry into an impoverished aristocratic family, the Dupont-Duforts.  Even though Junie gets on well with her intended husband Georges, the two young people know that neither can consent to an arranged marriage.  Only by losing his entire fortune will Lacouret succeed in bringing off the match, the couple marrying for love, not personal advantage.