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A rousing swashbuckler with a dark ending, 12 Sep 2007
Cartouche is an unusual and interesting swashbuckler. For the first half, it's a raucous, funny tale of venality and romance that takes place in pre-Revolutionary France. Then it moves gradually into something more serious, and ends on a somber and decidedly fatalistic note.
Louis-Dominique Bourguigon (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a rogue and a thief, quick with his fingers or his sword. He's part of a large Parisian gang headed by Malichot (Marcel Dalio). Dominique thinks he can do better, misjudges and with Malichot's henchmen after him, decides it would be prudent to join the army. He signs on with two friends, La Doceur (Jess Hahn) and La Taupe (Jean Rochefort), he met in a tavern. As cowardly realists, they become the only survivors of a bloody battle. As survivors, they're hailed as heroes. As heroes, they're ordered to be in the front line of tomorrow's battle. So they steal the Army's payroll and head back to Paris. On the way, Dominique encounters a dancer who shows more cleavage than the Grand Canyon. "My name is Venus," she tells him. "I'm nineteen. No parents, but lots of lovers." After another tavern fight, this one as funny as anything the Three Stooges could have come up with, the four of them make it to Paris. Dominque confronts Malichot, who at heart is a bit of a groveling coward, and takes over the gang. He now calls himself Cartouche and his rules are simple. "Let bygones be bygones. No bloodshed. Aim at the powerful. Keep accounts and give everyone a fair deal." All goes well until Cartouche meets for a second time Isabelle de Ferrussac, wife of the head of police. Venus (Claudia Cardinale) may love him but he is drawn toward Isabelle (Odile Versois). And slowly the story moves into more serious complications involving jealousy, betrayal, loyalty and sacrifice. I enjoyed the film a lot, but someone who watches it needs to be prepared that this swashbuckler doesn't end with more happy swashbuckling.
The film has a great look about it, with horses galloping across the French countryside, lavish costumes and ornate settings. The photography is as lush as the serving wenches. Belmondo makes a terrific athletic hero, adept at fighting or humor, believable as a lover or a leader. Claudia Cardinale as Venus and Odile Versois as Isabelle vividly represent two opposites of a desirable woman in the movies...earthy and direct or shy and a challenge. Cardinale comes off better, I think, because the role has passion as well as some good lines. "Enjoy life, Dominique," she tells him, "it wards off death." Later she points out to him that "when you are very rich, even richer than you are now, hay will be the same price." Marcel Dalio is especially enjoyable as the overbearing and then obsequious Malichot who winds up with a brand on his forehead and an abbreviated life. He was Jewish and he and his wife barely escaped France when the Germans took over. He wound up in Hollywood during the war playing small bits. In Casablanca he was the roulette man at Rick's who, with Rick's okay, helps the young couple make enough winnings to buy the two transit visas. In fact, he was one of France's first-rate film actors. Watch him as Jean Gabin's escape partner in Grand Illusion or in Rules of the Game. After the war he headed back to France and resumed his career as a major French actor.
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