BA Shop Film Links  Bates Film & Television Checklist Bates 101 Internet Movie Database (IMDb) British Film Institute (BFI) Not On BATES ARCHIVE News In Memoriam SPOTLIGHTS Knighthood American Film Theatre Fifties TV Al Hirschfeld FEATURES Biography Timeline Photo Gallery Actors Centre Piffle Ephemera ARCHIVE Theatre Film Television Audio Interviews Writing

f i l m Spotlight May 1997 Story of a Love Story (Impossible Objet) L'impossible objet, also called Impossible Object; from a novel of the same name by Nicholas Mosley. Directed by John Frankenheimer with Dominique Sanda, Michel Auclair, Evans Evans and Lea Massari. Cinematography by Claude Renoir, original music by Michel Legrand. France, 1973, 118 minutes. Lyrical and romantic, with cinematography by Claude Renoir and a memorable score by Michel Legrand, this satisfying film didn't have a theatrical release: apparently funds ran out before it reached a distributor. I understand that John Frankenheimer obtained a copy of the film and entered it in an American film festival (perhaps Atlanta), where it won top honors. Bates and Sanda are an irresistable couple, and Frankenheimer presents the story, which is more complicated to explain than to watch, with fluid transitions from reality to probable fantasy to the surreal. Throughout, there are key recurring phrases and situations which suggest that the body of the story is made up of variations on a theme--various "takes" from the imagination of the main character. - Reality or fantasy - Harry, played by Alan Bates, is an English writer living in France, who, as the film begins, has been "married half his life" to an American wife (Evans Evans); they have three sons. Harry loves his family, but he is restless, in the throes of finishing a book, in mid-life crisis. He moves to a bed-sitter in Paris, to write. The rest of the plot (the body of the film) could be happening entirely in Harry's imagination, or it could be partially real, events translating into fiction through the writer's eye. Whether in reality or fantasy, Harry meets Natalie (Dominique Sanda), her tall, dreamy beauty and husky voice a contrast to Evans Evans' American style. They fall in love in Paris, and eventually live together in Morocco, until tragedy strikes. - Plot surprises - To tell more of the plot would spoil its surprises ... but there is a charming birthday party for the youngest son, an hilarious (!) suicide attempt, lots of love scenes, and amazing cinematography in scenes on the water off Morocco. This is a virtuosic Bates role. He delivers Harry whole: loving and petty; sexy and childish; father and lover; honest and feckless. Even the 70's hair and wardrobe look good just now. Story of a Love Story is on my short list of essential Bates films. If you find it, don't hesitate to buy. You'll watch it over and over, perhaps recognizing some of the Paris locations, perhaps going off in search of the Mosley novel; it is beautiful, sensual, a puzzle to work at, a trip to a special place. |||

rev020604