Mississippi Mermaid

Starring:Jean-Paul Belmondo, Catherine Deneuve, Nelly Borgeaud, Martine FerriÃ¨re, Marcel Berbert, Yves Drouhet, Michel Bouquet, Roland ThÃ©not
Director: FranÃ§ois Truffaut
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

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Jean-Paul Belmondo stars as the owner of a cigarette factory on an African island, and a single man who advertises for a wife and, voilà, gets Catherine Deneuve. Problem is, however, she isn't quite what she seems in this 1969 drama by François Truffaut, taken from a Cornell Woolrich novel called Waltz into Darkness. Suspicions lead to deception and deception to murder, and along the way Belmondo's character, despite everything, continues to fall in love with his enigmatic prize, which is really the point of the film: the protagonist, almost as if he were willing himself into a noir myth, seems determined to fall under the spell of a romantic delusion. A fine effort by Truffaut that is the best of his mid-period pulpy, suspense films (along with The Bride Wore Black and Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me). --Tom Keogh

Description

This enthralling, erotic tale of a young millionaire and his mysterious bride is "bewitching" (The New York Times), "exciting and beautiful" (Time). Written and directed by legendary cinematic genius FranÃ§ois Truffaut (Jules and Jim) and featuring European superstars Catherine Deneuve (Indochine) and Jean-Paul Belmondo (Les Miserables), Mississippi Mermaid is nothing less than "breathtaking" (Newsweek)! Beauty is by no means rare on the lush, tropical Isle de Reunion. Yet when island resident and tobacco tycoon Louis Mahe (Belmondo) first meets Julie Rouselle (Deneuve)his mail-order fiancÃ(c)ehe's completely enraptured by her radiance. But it soon becomes clear that Julie is hiding a dark secret. And when she disappears without a trace, Louis vows to stop at nothing to find hera resolution that lures him into a tangled web of relentless obsession, uncontrollable passion, and ultimately cold-blooded murder!

Customer Reviews:

Darkest Deneuve.......2004-02-08

I have not seen the DVD. I saw the classic Mermaid on its initial run in the theatres, and the impression continues to haunt me 30 years later. I attribute the impact almost entirely to Mlle Deneuve's diabolical portrait of an utterly lost soul. Of her massive cannon of femme noir performances (spanning nearly half a century), her brilliant, ongoing exhibition of the dark side of the "eternal feminine", none is quite as disturbing, as that of the icily vapid Julie, the heartless, mindless, psychotic and inevitably homocidal/suicidal 'substitute' mail order bride.

In the Mermaid, which followed Belle de Jour and Repulsion in forming the foundation of Deneuve's introduction to an international audience (she'd been making films in France since the tender age of 13), Deneuve's character approaches the sub-human, becomming a sort of cosmic "black-hole" into which her victims (male) are helplessly drawn in a haze romantic self-asserting ignorance, an archeology of a long-lost maenidic fury, or prehensile feminist epistemology, which, under the mature Truffaut's direction and Deneuve's characteristic restraint is played out in grave measures, a ponderous, agonizing, inexorable procession through a slough of despair to dissolution. If Mlle Deneuve et al. have succeeded in creating a character "rotton to her xx chromosone core", they have imparted something crucial about our humanity or lack thereof. For this reason, I rate the Mermaid not as merely good, but great, albeit uncomfortably great, which is perhaps why, it has always been consigned by critics to that dubious category of "flawed masterpieces". But it's worth the price, if for nothing more than to see Deneuve as a flaming redhead.

Truffaut's best Hitchcock film.......2004-01-03

People who put a Lonely Heart's ad in the newspaper are often idealists: they try to put into a few words everything they are and expect. The exchange of letters is full of hope. Louis Mahe (Jean Paul Belmondo) is so affected by Julie Roussell's letters that he proposes to her. But not the expected pretty brunette come from board of the "Mississippi" but - Catherine Deneuve. And we know from the start that she is a marriage imposter and that a crime has taken place. She shows no interest in "Julie's" wardrobe (she does not even get her trunk open) and neglects her canary until it dies. But the most basic tricks of seduction (an open zipper) are sufficient to transform Louis into a pliable little dog. First: a joint bank account. And then, when Julie's sister draws attention to herself - the flight. With 27,850 millions of Louis' 28 million francs - she would have needed his signature for the entire sum.

Louis and Julie's sister engage a private detective (Michel Bouquet). Louis contrives to trace Marion (Deneuve's real name) in Antibes where she works as taxi-girl - her gangster-lover left her penniless, or rather centimeless. But Louis finds himself unable to kill her. She tells her story: Orphan. Precocious. Lesbian experiences. Many sugardaddies. Jail. And soon she leads him by the nose again. The detective turns out as sly as a fox and tenacious asa bloodhound. Louis and Marion bury his body in the cellar. Thy flee to Paris, where Louis discovers that Julie has a costly taste. She worships money like a deity. He sells his firm at a fraction of its value, but when the corpse of the detective is discovered ( a flood) they have to flee again - this time without the money. Life in a mountain lodge, together with a whining loser - Marion could think of a more cheerful life without this appendage...

A high point in the careers of everybody involved. Belmondo's self-deceit makes him nearly endearing. Deneuve looks beautiful in her wardrobe by Yves St. Laurent. Her performance is delightful. At first she fakes the fragile wifey - too timid to ask her husband for money, that's why the joint bank account is needed - but after she is exposed she sounds like Katharine Hepburn in the jail scene of BRINGING UP BABY. Truffaut directs with self-evident aplomb. The sixties were the only decade when european films were head and shoulders above american productions. After this film Truffaut was able to look his idol Alfred Hitchcock full in the face.

Meeting Miss "Right".......2003-04-27

This film involves the story of a man seeking his "perfect mate" by means of an ad she has placed in a newspaper. He lives on a lonely island in the Indian Ocean (Reunion, once a French colony) and the woman, played by Catherine Deneuve, is from Paris, supposedly. At first the two exchange a series of letters, so as to "get to know one another," and eventually the woman agrees to travel to Reunion to meet the man. He happens to be a wealthy tobacco farmer, and the owner of a cigarette factory, which makes him moderately wealthy. Upon meeting each other in person they appear somewhat uncomfortable with the circumstances, as if niether quite expected what they find. The woman seems to remember little from her correspondance. When sharing his experiences with business partners the man gets less-than-lukewarm responses from his close associates. Despite these peculiar circumstances and an absolute abscence of anything near intimacy the plans for a wedding go forward. Shortly afterward the woman's behavior becomes gradually more bizarre, until finally she disappears altogether, having taken the man's fortune with her. The man's pusuit for this woman, now his wife, follows. We learn he is pursuing more than just a thief; he pursues her as love-object as well, ending up in shady dance halls along the French Riviera, where she is working. Eventually the truth bocomes known, a kind of love between the two develops, and Catherine Deneuve's character as a victim just as much as a victimizer becomes known. All in all I do not think it is one of her best performances. Where the film succeeds at all is in it's underlying message for persons seeking fulfilling relationships by means of classified "personals." In this respect I think Truffaut was ahead of his time.

Deneuve plays her role (s) with great skill........2003-02-18

"Mississippi Mermaid" is an early Francois Truffaut film, and if it looks familiar--it may be that you've seen "Original Sin"--the Angelina Jolie/Antonio Banderas remake of the film.

Louis Mahe (Jean-Paul Belmondo) plays a wealthy factory owner who lives on the small island, Reunion, near Africa. At the beginning of the film, Louis is eagerly expecting the arrival of his mail-order bride. Photo in hand, he impatiently waits for her to arrive, and when he is confronted with Julie Roussel (Catherine Deneuve) who is NOT the woman in the photo, he happily swallows the story that she sent him a photo of someone else--after all, they both engaged in minor deceits during their courtship by mail, so he overlooks the warning signals and marries her anyway.

Soon, Louis becomes suspicious about his new bride's real identity, but he continues to elect acceptance. However, when he receives a letter from Julie's sister demanding to know why she hasn't heard from Julie, he is forced to confront Julie. Julie promptly cleans out the joint bank account and disappears...

I have never been a fan of Jean-Paul Belmondo's. However, in this film, his facial expressions were extremely impressive, and I began to see that perhaps I overlooked him in the past. Catherine Deneuve plays a chilling Julie Roussel/Marion Vergano. At the beginning of the film, Deneuve plays the demure Julie, but when the persona of Julie is dumped, and Deneuve assumes the identity of Marion, an ice queen emerges. Whereas Angelina played the Julie/Marion role with sizzling passion, Deneuve is icy, controlling and evil. However, this is the precise reason that it was difficult to understand why Mahe continued to adore Julie/Marion. The partnership from hell theory just doesn't hold for the on-screen relationship between Mahe and Marion--there wasn't enough sexual chemistry to explain it. And perhaps it can't be helped given the age of the film, but Denueve did manage two topless scenes--one which almost causes a car accident.

The film is dated. The airplane travel scenes are tedious. When it is time for action, the camera just speeds up, and the effect is preposterous. However, "Mississippi Mermaid" is well worth a look if you are a die-hard fan of either French Cinema or Catherine Deneuve--displacedhuman

DVD-production disaster.......2003-01-04

The story is entertaining enough, but there is not much joy from viewing this DVD. The problem is that the folks producing it apparently were trying to win the contest for the DVD having the world's squattest image. It is EXTREMELY letterboxed WITHIN a 16:9 widescreen format. Even your zoom function won't help you, because the producers moved the subtitles into the black-bar region (and the subtitles are about 2/3 the height of the image itself. The movie becomes simply uninvolving when you see low-resolution images on a thin ribbon across the screen.

Average customer rating:

Darkest Deneuve
Truffaut's best Hitchcock film
Meeting Miss "Right"
Deneuve plays her role (s) with great skill.
DVD-production disaster

Mississippi Mermaid [Region 2]
Starring: Jean-Paul Belmondo , Catherine Deneuve , Nelly Borgeaud , Martine Ferrière , and Marcel Berbert
Director: François Truffaut
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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