La Tentation de Barbizon (1946)
Directed by Jean Stelli

Film Review

Marcel Carné's Les Visiteurs du soir (1942) was most likely the inspiration for this comédie fantastique, escapist fare that enjoyed a brief spell of popularity in France during the grim years of the Occupation and its austere aftermath - other examples include: René Clair's I Married a Witch (1942) and Claude Autant-Lara's Sylvie et le fantôme (1946).  La Tentation de Barbizon was directed by Jean Stelli, whose lachrymose melodrama Le Voile bleu (1942) had been one of the biggest hits of the Occupation era.  Whilst Stelli's melodramas now appear badly dated, his comedies continue to stand up rather well, and of these the most enjoyable is the lively farce in which an unusually demonic François Périer goes to war with an angelic Simone Renant.

La Tentation de Barbizon occupies an important place in French cinema: it is the film in which comedy legend Louis de Funès made his first film appearance, as a doorman in a swanky Parisian nightclub.  It was one of the film's principals, Daniel Gélin, who landed de Funès the part, and although he is on screen for barely half a minute (watching in bewilderment as Pierre Larquey tries to walk through a closed door) he has an immediate impact.  A hundred or so films later, Louis de Funès would be his country's most popular comic actor and star of some of the most successful films made in France.

Typical of its genre, La Tentation de Barbizon is pure nonsense but that doesn't prevent it from being entertaining.  François Périer shows a surprising flair for both comedy and malevolence in a part that eerily anticipates the darker character roles he would gravitate towards later in his career.  Around this time, Périer was in danger of becoming typecast as the romantic juvenile, so it was a wise move of his to play Mephistopheles to Daniel Gélin's goon-like Faust in this spirited comedy.  Périer's effortless sliminess is perfectly complemented by Simone Renant's angelic loveliness, and you wonder why such a photogenic and talented actress is virtually forgotten today.

The sparkling rapport between Périer and Renant proves to be the film's greatest asset, practically relegating the film's other two stars, Daniel Gélin and Juliette Faber, to the level of supporting players.  (Renant manages to ignite Périer's lighter but does little for Gélin except to turn a rival into a fish).  The only actor not to be totally eclipsed by the dazzling Périer-Renant double act is Pierre Larquey, the Monsieur Tout-le-Monde who stole more films than any other actor on the planet.  It's right that the honour of giving Louis de Funès his first on-screen gag should fall to Larquey, one incorrigible scene stealer helping another on his way to stardom.

Film Synopsis

Martine and Michel are a young couple who have made up their mind to get married.  During a stay at a country inn run by Martine's uncle Jérôme their love will be put to the test by a devil's emissary masquerading as American businessman Ben Atkinson.  Fortunately, the couple's guardian angel, in the guise of attractive socialite Eva Parker, is at hand to help foil the devil's scheme.  Things go somewhat awry when Ben is coerced into doing good works by Martine and Eva allows herself to be seduced by Michel...