Shéhérazade (1963)
Directed by Pierre Gaspard-Huit

Film Review

Like Joseph Mankiewicz's blockbuster Cleopatra (1963), released just a few weeks later, Pierre Gaspard-Huit's Shéhérazade is a film that clearly suffers from delusions of grandeur, although not on quite the same studio-bankrupting scale.  Mankiewicz's overblown epic has managed to stand the test of time and is generally better regarded today than when it was first seen.  By contrast, Gaspard-Huit's lavish period piece has been all but forgotten, despite the beguiling presence of Anna Karina in the role of the mythical storyteller.  Karina made the film in between her commitments to Jean-Luc Godard - Vivre sa vie (1962) and Bande à part (1964) - and, filmed in luxuriant widescreen Eastmancolor, she has never looked more radiant on screen than she does here.  Why then does the film languish in obscurity?

Shéhérazade commits the same deadly sin as Cleopatra.  It is a film so caught up in its grandeur that it ends up as a soulless lump of marble rather than a living sculpture.  The production values can hardly be faulted.  The sets and costumes are all works of art, and there's hardly a shot in the film that is not breathtakingly beautiful.  The desert scenes are particularly stunning and give the film a visual power similar to that of David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962), which may have been a key influence.  But pretty sets and even prettier photography are not enough to make a great film, and where Shéhérazade falls down are in those areas that are needed to bring it to life.  Gaspard-Huit's direction is mechanical and lacks spontaneity, the acting is either bland or wooden, and the script is  almost totally bereft of depth and human feeling.  If the film has any beauty, it is of a coldly superficial and garish kind, not the kind that arouses the intellect or stirs the soul.

On the acting front, only Antonio Vilar's performance comes up to scratch.  His Haroun-al-Raschid is a complex, well-drawn, even likeable character, far more interesting and believable than the other protagonists, who are little more than thinly sketched caricatures.  Beyond her obvious sensuality, there is very little substance to Karina's Shéhérazade, and if the actress appears bored throughout the whole film it's likely because the characterisation that is foisted on her is thinner than a slice of waist-watcher's bread.   Gérard Barray's Renaud de Villecroix has slightly more meat on the bone but Barray's miscasting (he is only good when cast as the villain) prevents us from engaging with the noble Christian ambassador, no matter what fate and the vengeful Caliph of Baghdad throws at him.

Somewhat less satisfying than Gaspard-Huit's preceding period films - Christine (1958) and Le Capitaine Fracasse (1961) - Shéhérazade still manages to impress with its eye-popping visuals, the highpoints being an exotic dance performed by Karina (you'll definitely need a cold shower afterwards) and some fiercely energetic battle scenes.  Does the film deserve to be forgotten?  Probably not.  Like Cleopatra, sluggish behemoth though it is, there's pleasure enough to be had in wallowing in the film's inflated grandiosity and savouring the divine beauty of its lead actress.

Film Synopsis

In 809, Charlemagne sends an ambassador, Renaud de Villecroix, to his equal in power, the Caliph of Baghdad, Haroun-al-Raschid, in the hope of forging an alliance.  Whilst crossing the Mesopotamian desert, De Villecroix and his party encounter Bedouin raiders who have taken as their prisoner the Princess Shéhérazade, who was also on her way to the court of the Caliph, to become his wife.  De Villecroix rescues Shéhérazade and the two fall instantly in love.  On his arrival in Baghdad, the knight dutifully hands over the princess to Haroun-al-Raschid, who marries her as planned.  The union upsets the Grand Vizier Zaccas, who had hoped that the Caliph would marry his mistress Shirin, allowing him to overthrow him in due course.  Zaccas takes his revenge by notifying the Caliph about Shéhérazade's interest in De Villecroix...