黄金马车

意外的好看。非常热闹嬉笑的闹剧场景，莫里哀的喜剧还原？没看过莫里哀的剧，只读过一本有关莫里哀的书，感觉他就是这么玩的，形式很喧闹内里有追求。还有就是觉得戏中戏像莫扎特歌剧《后宫出逃》那种的喜剧。电影里唱念做打无一不有，很有趣。导演在探讨戏剧和电影的分界？不懂理论，纯看很好玩，导演有追求。故事很俗套，一女三男的纠葛。最重要的女主并不是年轻美艳娇俏型的，但是非常镇得住，本身就是舞台剧演员吗？我最喜欢总督，表演层次丰富有变化。平常的昏庸偶尔的平易苦闷以及装腔作势，很丰富。如果换成梦露式的性感金发女郎大概会更有说服力，但是现在也可以说她舞台表现力惊人让他们全部折服。

To this reviewer’s reckoning, one has to inure the fact that French auteur Jean Renoir’s latter track record smacks of resting on his tremendous laurels, THE GOLDEN COACH, the first of his post-Hollywood musical comedies trilogy, will be followed by FRENCH CANCAN (1955) and ELENA AND HER MEN (1956), headlines Anna Magnani as the pillar of an Italian Commedia dell’arte troupe, setting its foot in a 18th century colonial Peru.

Ms. Magnani is Camilla, whose romantic embroilment with 3 different male suitors: Ferdinand (Lamont), the Spanish viceroy, Ramon (Rioli), an indigenous toreador and her longtime Italian beau Felipe (Campbell), will be immediately thrown into a whirlpool of romp and pomp, with the titular golden coach as a token of love from the noble viceroy, which can be put into practical use to save his pending deposition if Camilla feels up to do it.

First things first, amped up by Vivaldi’s repertoire, gingered up by Magnani and her troupe shrouded in sheer Technicolor splendor and variegated costumes, not to mention the deadpan aristocratic panoply and comic skits impromptu, THE GOLDEN COACH is so eye-pleasing and ear-soothing that, for one second, one might assume it is a masterpiece in the making, to certain extent, that expectation is partially validated by Renoir’s effortless facility to beautifully refine the stodgy with freewheeling ease and the Midas touch, a compassionate, pyrotechnic Magnani, who defies any moral obligation and jaundiced ageism to attest that for a woman in the mellow years, her Camilla is second to none in commanding her own life path and expressing her own feelings, and she has many options at hand: retreating to a simpler, quieter life with Felipe, becoming a celebrity couple among locals with Ramon, aiding with Fedinand in his silk-stocking intrigues, or just resuming her stock role of Columbina with the troupe, it is her call and hers only.

A Cinecittà production bursts into its full-blown lavishness of its visual complexion and texture, THE GOLDEN COACH is a vintage farce hampered by its folly-driven staginess and erstwhile flippancy, unwieldy in its glittering sheen but still a very different kettle of fish from any other vanity projects, for one thing, Renoir is quite au fait with men’s sophomoric foibles and a believer in a woman’s elemental beneficence.

referential entries: Renoir’s ELENA AND HER MEN (1956, 5.2/10), FRENCH CANCAN (1955, 7.0/10), THE RIVER (1951, 7.1/10).