Pierre
de Marivaux’s plays are still frequently revived in France, but they have never
been widely read in English translation. At least he was popular within his
lifetime. Frankly, he needed his royalties, having lost his shirt in the
Mississippi land bubble. As a result, he should have identified with the
well-bred but financially destitute hero of one of his best-known plays.
Dorante is now just a plebeian secretary, but he will still sneakily woo his
wealthy widowed mistress in the late Luc Bondy’s modern-day adaptation of False Confessions (trailer here), which opens
tomorrow in Los Angeles.
It
is all crafty Dubois’s fault. Dorante’s former valet now works in the household
of the somewhat older but still alluring Araminte. Knowing his master was
smitten after merely spying the wealthy widow at the opera, the servant hatches
a scheme to bring them together. Through the influence of his uncle, Dorante
lands a job as Araminte’s secretary, beating out the candidate put forward by
the Comte Dorimont, an unwelcome suitor Araminte will either marry or sue in
court to resolve a long-standing land dispute.
Dorante
immediately wins her confidence by spurning her Dowager Countess-like mother’s
request to help convince Araminte to see things her way. Since that would have included
marrying the Comte, Dorante is definitely not on-board. As she starts to appreciate
his charms, Dubois stokes her servant Marton’s romantic interest in Dorante,
stimulating Araminte’s jealousy, which in turn clouds her rigid class-based
sensibilities and judgement.
Bondy’s
False Confessions is an unfortunate
case of one or two high-profile critics causing a domino effect among other
critics and bloggers who are incapable or unwilling to think for themselves. It
has a bizarrely low RT score, but it is really quite spritely and
sophisticated. Somewhat controversially, Bondy opted to keep Marivaux’s
original language (more or less), but frankly, as experienced in English
subtitles, it only sounds elevated rather than forbidding or distancing. Sadly,
he also passed away during the final days of shooting, but it is never obvious
at what point his freshly widowed wife took over the helm.
It
almost goes without saying, but Isabelle Huppert really is terrific portraying
Araminte. We don’t often think of her in comedic contexts, but her timing and
delivery are impeccable. Bulle Ogier is also quite a stitch unleashing her
inner Dame Maggie Smith as Araminte’s tart-tongued mother. In contrast, Louis
Garrel underwhelms, largely playing Dorante on sullen auto-pilot. However,
Manon Combes really seems earnest and genuine as the out-classed Marton.
