Claude Autant-Lara possessed the knack of rattling cages, both as a director and later as a member of the European Parliament representing the National Front. The title of his autobiography 'Rage of the Heart' is singularly appropriate.
Three of his films in particular were denounced from pulpits and caused outrage among the self-appointed guardians of public morality not least this beautiful adaptation of Colette's novel of 1923. The controversy over its theme of an adolescent boy initiated into the pleasures and pains of love by a woman 'entre deux ages' as the French so delicately put it, certainly did the film no harm at the box office and it went on to win the Grand Prix du Cinéma before it became the César as well as challenging the concept of 'prior censorship'.
It has been said that her performance as Madame Dalleray is Edwige Feuillere's finest but this is just one of many given by one of France's greatest artistes. She is simply superlative here as a character whose need of love is probably just as great as that of the teenage Phil and her heartbreak at their final parting is film acting of the highest quality. Pierre-Michel Beck shows great promise as the youth whose hormones are throwing their weight about but he did not progress to film adulthood. His relationship with the equally youthful Vinca offers a perfect balance dramatically and she is beautifully played by the ill-fated Nicole Berger.
Turning his back on the arrogant, know-it-all members of the New Ripple brigade did Autant-Lara no favours and 'En cas de Meilleur' which also featured Mlle Feuillere, was to be his last film of note before the inevitable downward slope.
Mention must be made of the screenplay by Messieurs Bost and Aurenche and a beautiful score by this director's favoured composer René Cloerec.
This is essentially an early 'rite of passage' movie handled with typical Gallic finesse and elegance in which suggestion matters far more that depiction.
The greatest accolade came from Colette, no stranger to controversy herself: "The magic of cinema has brought my characters before me".
