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Rating: Perfidia, original title “Les dames de Bois du Boulogne”, is the second feature film by Robert Bresson (1901 – 1999), one of the most important French directors of all time, recognized as a master of the minimalism movement.
The film was a commercial flop, to the point that it was pulled from theaters after just a few days.
The plot is quite simple. Hélène and Jean have been lovers for a couple of years but are neither married nor engaged.
Hélène realizes there is no longer passion, love, or involvement, and although she is still in love with him, she decides to leave him only to then scheme a terrible revenge …
Hélène (Maria Casarès, a well-known theater actress at the time), indeed, embodies perfidy.
There is nothing more dangerous than a wounded, neglected lover.
She will devise a long-term diabolical plan against Jean and, unaware, involve Agnès, a young variety dancer with an uncertain past …
The minimalism we mentioned. In fact, the film’s structure is based on a technique aimed at framing narrow fields, many interiors, many dialogues.
However, the script is very well crafted. As the film progresses, it becomes increasingly evident what Hélène’s wicked plan is and how she ingeniously contrives, separately contacting the two unfortunate souls to execute her revenge.
It's a film of almost 80 years ago; inevitably, with its gloomy and threatening soundtrack, some passages filled with emphasis, a touch of rhetoric, and an outpouring of extreme wickedness contrasted with a florilegium of excellent sentiments, it appears here and there dated. However, for its time, the film is undoubtedly modern or rather emancipated in terms of the perspective adopted and especially regarding the ending. I can't go into detail because I'd reveal too much.
The film is also different, peculiar even, in its filming techniques and use of photography (the sequence in which Jean leaves Hélène’s house is masterful: we always see Hélène in the foreground while we hear Jean opening the door, and Hélène’s face lights up when the door opens and returns to darkness when Jean leaves the door closed behind him).
Another thing that struck me was Jean himself (Paul Bernard). His physique, his face, all conveyed a sense of unpleasantness, of natural antipathy to me. In summary, beyond his performance, which is still good but inferior to Casarès (the standout of the cast), I was impressed by what I considered to be his perfect "physique du rôle" for the part. The classic opportunistic, sly, cold lover … but Hélène will make sure to turn him into something else.
Anyway, I consider it a very beautiful film and I hope to find other films by this very valid director with his personal style.
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