Stephan Zweig's screenplay by Jacques Dere The famous director of action films with Delon, Belmondo and Ventura, having grown old, took up a completely different genre - drama. It was as if Dere had been creatively excited all his life, but he had not fully realized these challenges. Perhaps that is why the adaptation of Zweig’s novel “Clarissa” was on the agenda.
This is the story of a strong and determined young woman from Austria, the daughter of a high-ranking officer. She remembers her youth. The pre-World War I tension, a chance affair with a Frenchman, news of the murder of Franz Ferdinand. . .
Then a series of tests begins. Our heroine will find out she's pregnant, but how will you report her father? And morals in this matter do not allow ambiguity.
And despite the fact that these decisions may seem to you deliberately erroneous, a living person took them and the tape just makes the viewer, along with Clarissa, think about each of these decisions.
Looks like Dere wanted everyone to understand his painting. Therefore, he provided the narrative with fragments of text from the work. Given the slightly static performance of many actors, this decision turned the tape into a kind of television play, an audiovisual brief sketch from the book. It turns out an interesting effect - the plot in itself is certainly interesting. But the rest is hardly remembered.
Is it possible to seriously evaluate the play of Marushka Detmers - a cute Dutch actress who in the frame showed only monosyllable emotions, which were complemented by a voiceover describing what thoughts or experiences she has? Nominally for her, this work in Jacques Dere could become a big role - because she led the entire film and received an abundance of close-ups, which she coped with. There was no obvious smear. The actress was without a doubt sweet, charming and expressive. But in order to squeeze something more out of this story, it was necessary to put much more effort.
I suppose Jacques Deret remembered his unsuccessful adaptations of Françoise Sagan and Balzac. And the master didn't want any more experiments. There was a lot of light in his picture, there were unconditional academic plans. Everything was clear.
As a result, I will share my assessment. I liked Zweig's work. Interesting. But the picture itself is made too simple. It can’t even be compared to Jacques Dere’s The Disease of Love. It's a different level.
You can compare this film work with Paul Verhoeven's "Typy-Whiptail." There's also a story about a woman going through a big war. But how much tension, details, nerves... In the end, even for the relaxed pace of Zweig could find special techniques.
4 out of 10