Mississippi Mermaid

Mississippi Mermaid, from 1969, seemed to be an attempt by Francois Truffaut to make an Alfred Hitchcock picture, and he did not succeed. It has many of the elements Hitchcock used, but without the tautness and balance of the master. Instead it's kind of a mess.

The film also has noir elements, in that its protagonist is a man who acts stupidly over a woman. Jean-Paul Belmondo is a wealthy owner of a tobacco plantation and cigarette factory on the island of Reunion, which is located in the Indian Ocean. He has been corresponding with a woman he met through the classified ads, and they are to marry. When she arrives, she does not look like her picture--she's Catherine Deneuve--who explains that she did not want their relationship to be about her beauty. Belmondo can't complain--not only is she a knockout, but he lied about his monetary status, not wanting to attract gold-diggers.

The two marry, and I'm reluctant to go much further in the plot summary, because I didn't know what was coming, and it was enjoying to ride along with the twists. Suffice it to say that Deneuve is not who she says she is, and when Belmondo gives her access to his bank accounts we can tell this is a bad idea.

While Truffaut idolized Hitchcock, he just doesn't have a feel for this material. Belmondo, to use a more modern cinematic line, just can't quit Deneuve, no matter what she did to him. She's the equivalent of Hitchcock's icy blonde--I can't tell if Deneuve's mostly blank performance was on purpose or not. In any case, it's hard to sympathize with Belmondo's character, who continuously does stupid things. There's an incredible coincidence that occurs when Belmondo and Deneuve, without each other's knowledge, end up in the same seaside French city. Also, Chekhov's rule about a gun being introduced to the story is followed to the letter.

At a certain point in the story I stopped caring about these two, as he was so dumb and her motives were so ambiguous. I could swear, though, that the end of the film takes place in the same mountain cabin that Shoot the Piano Player did. Truffaut often put in little inside jokes--the novel that this film is based on, Waltz Into Darkness, by Cornell Woolrich, can be seen in Stolen Kisses being read by Antoine Doiniel. There are other isolated moments of whimsy, such as when Deneuve is changing her top while in a car, and another motorist gazes at her and drives off the road.