The Green Room

Movie Information

In Brief: François Truffaut directs and stars in this adaptation of two Henry James stories -- an odd and decidedly small-scale work for the filmmaker. The story concerns a man who is obsessed with his dead wife -- and indeed all of the dead people in his life. It's certainly interesting — occasionally fascinating — but it's undeniably morbid.
Score:

Genre: Drama
Director: François Truffaut
Starring: François Truffaut, Nathalie Baye, Jean Dasté, Patrick Maléon, Jane Lobre
Rated: PG

Supposedly, this little film from François Truffaut — who also plays the lead role — is one of the filmmaker’s most personal works. There’s certainly evidence of this since the photographs of the honored dead on the wall of a disused chapel that Julien Davenne (Truffaut) turns into a personal shrine include both people from Truffaut’s own life and some he simply admired. The screenplay by Truffaut and Jean Gruault was adapted from two Henry James novellas. (If nothing else, that should clue you in on the fact that the movie is the furthest thing from “action-packed.”) Set in the 1920s, it concerns a man, Davenne, who is in a state of perpetual mourning for his late wife, but more, he’s a man who appears to be consumed by guilt simply for not being among the dead or maimed of the First World War. He’s obsessed with the past and the idea of keeping the memories of the dead alive — to the point that he denies himself any kind of real life of his own since to move ahead strikes him as a betrayal. (He’s outraged when an old friend remarries.) The film is nothing if not on the morbid side, but it’s also strangely involving — and occasionally quite beautiful. Unfortunately, whatever visual delights the film may have had are badly represented in the current copies that are available, which are quite muddy and murky, and do the film no favors.

The Hendersonville Film Society will show The Green Room Sunday, Nov. 11 at 2 p.m. in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing Retirement Community (behind Epic Cinemas), 333 Thompson St., Hendersonville.

SHARE
About Ken Hanke
Head film critic for Mountain Xpress from December 2000 until his death in June 2016. Author of books "Ken Russell's Films," "Charlie Chan at the Movies," "A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series," "Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker."

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

2 thoughts on “The Green Room

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.