L'Ordonnance (1933)
Directed by Viktor Tourjansky

Film Review

L'Ordonnance is something of a cinematic oddity, a French film that looks quite unlike any other French film of its period. It was directed by the Ukrainian born film director Viktor Tourjansky and was based on a short story by Guy de Maupassant.  Tourjansky had previously directed a silent version of the same story in 1921.  The film has some shocking realist touches (notably the horrific suicide scene) but is pretty much a conventional melodrama, of the kind that was very popular in the 1920s and 1930s. Whilst the film is not without interest it pales in comparison with some of Tourjansky's other work, notably his grand historical dramas Michel Strogoff (1926) and Volga en flammes (1934).

What is most striking about this film is its exceptional design and visual impact.  With its lavish sets and beautiful photography, it is as attractive and atmospheric as any film made in the early 1930s.  Whilst the interior filming has more than a suggestion of German expressionism (note how brutally disturbing Tourjansky makes the suicide and attempted rape sequences), the sun-drenched countryside exteriors remind one of the French impressionists and post-impressionists (Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, among others).  The camera work is exceptional in that it both captures the mood of the protagonists and conveys a sense of ineluctable doom. The naturalistic, seductively poetic, location sequences resemble those in Jean Renoir's 1936 film, Partie de campagne (which was based on another Guy de Maupassant story).

It's a pity that the quality of the direction and cinematography is not matched by that of the writing and acting.   What little dialogue there is is fairly trite and adds very little to what is conveyed by the images - suggesting that L'Ordonnance would probably have worked far better as a silent film.  Then there are the performances, which are generally characterless and theatrical, making it hard for the spectator to develop any real sympathy for either Hélène or her cheated husband.  Likewise the casting of Fernandel in this film was a terrible mistake - not because the comic actor doesn't perform well, but rather because he just doesn't fit in.  Even though his character is pretty well redundant (and could easily have been removed from the script), Fernandel steals the focus in every one of his scenes, by simple virtue of the fact that he has more charisma and charm than the rest of the cast put together.  His comic interludes clearly give the film more popular appeal, but they somewhat diminish its dramatic coherence.

Film Synopsis

Colonel Limousin returns home to find this his young wife has committed suicide in her bath.  After the funeral, he discovers a letter in which the dead woman reveals how she was driven to take her own life.  Some years ago, Limousin met and fell in love with a woman, Hélène, who was much younger than him.  But, soon after their marriage, Hélène found herself admired by the younger men under Limousin's command.  One of these becomes her lover.  When the Colonel's servant, Philippe, discovers that Hélène is having an affair, he intends to use the situation to his advantage...