Colonel Chabert (1994)

A left-for-dead soldier tries to regain his fiercely disputed identity after a decade-long disappearance in this slow but engrossing adaptation of Balzac's classic Napoleonic-era novel. In his directorial debut, Yves Angelo (the brilliant cinematographer of, among others, Baxter and Un Coeur en Hiver) compensates for an occasionally plodding narrative with some startlingly lavish compositions and a masterful use of sound--particularly during some stunning combat flashbacks. An uneven, often viscerally compelling film bolstered by a haunting opening sequence and the primal charisma of star Gerard Depardieu. In French with English subtitles. For a markedly different, decidedly more romantic look at a similar theme, check out The Return of Martin Guerre (also starring Depardieu) or its Americanized remake, Sommersby. --Andrew Wright Amazon.com

Exquisite Balzac adaptation:Your name means everything!

Honoree de Balzac's novels are known for their callous and cool characters of 19th Century France.Anne Chabert has moved on and remarried now that her Colonel/husband has been dead these past ten years.Enter The Colonel,ready to reclaim his name,his wife,his fortune only to be shunned and blocked at all turns.Fanny Ardent and Gerard Depardieu are no strangers to the acting in adaptations of Balzac's works.They succeed on all levels as two of the best French actors ever to grace the screen.The excellent companion film to COLONEL CHABERT would be BALZAC,again featuring Ardent and Depardieu,as well as COUSIN BETTE, another Balzac adaptation.THE RETURN OF MARTIN GUERRE(also starring Depardieu) and it's American remake SOMMERSBY also contain the similar themes of lost identity. February 21, 2007

Almost lousy

Although a fan of French films and historical realism, I was disappointed with this particular work. The film is not terribly advanced; it's themes are simple and portrayed well, but not excellently. The characters are somewhat realistic, but not developed well, and most are not likeable, even when they should be. Moreover, the film is boring; it takes a lot of time to relate even a little bit of not so interesting information. The ending, meanwhile, is anti-climatic and not totally unexpected. The average viewer will watch with a cold detachment, at best. Overall, not a bad film to watch if you've absolutely nothing better to do, but there are much better French films out there. August 28, 2005

Excellent Adaptation

Yves Angelo's adaptation of Balzac's classic short story is a moving work in which the direction, cinematography and acting all excel in manifesting Honore de Balzac's moving exploration of the human condition.

The morbid opening scene of the aftermath of Napoleon's phyrric victory at Eylau is accentuated by haunting melody of Beethoven's "Ghost" trio: a recurring thematic image througout the film. One truly feels how vanquished and disillusioned the colonel must have felt in seeing himself among the piles of corpses on the frigid battlefield. All the colonel wants is to be reunited with his identity that his heartless wife has denied him for the past decade. The colonel himself is a ghost among the living; a man with only a past but no future: a man whose sense of self died along with the ambitions of the Napoleanic reign. His wife wants only the lavish life which he had made available to her but not his person; his "death" ensures and continues her prosperous life. The movie truly captures the deep character study typical of Honore de Balzac's works.

Altogether a brilliant film with great direction and powerful acting. I hope the film will soon be released on DVD.

July 29, 2004

Great!

Quite a wonderful movie that gets better every time I watch it. Superb acting. Elegant script. August 21, 2002

Bravo Angelo

This directorial debut for cinematographer Yves Angelo who shot Claude Berri's Germinal and Alain Corneau's Tous Les Matins du Monde is an exciting achievement, visually ravishing. This is a beautiful realisation of the Honore de Balzac story of a soldier thought to have been killed in the 1807 Battle of Eylau, who returns to Paris to reclaim his name and fortune from his now remarried wife. The similarity to The Return of Martin Guerre is drawn because of the casting of Gerard Depardieu as the soldier, but the identity of Chabert is never challenged. Angelo includes footage of the battle using a blue filter and we see the obscenity of war by the burning of a dead horse, and the nobility of of a charge via the thudding of hooves on snow. When human bodies are piled to be buried the mud makes the image sculptural. These sequences are brief flashbacks but they, and the training camp where Chabert resides with white bears during negotiations for his claim, help us to understand his character. The film is well-paced, with scenes timed at just the right speed to allow an audience to appreciate the intricacies of the tale unfolding. Of note are the editing of a pre-bed servant ritual which is carried out, without fuss, under a conversation, and Depardieu finding eggs in a birds nest signalling the appearance of his former wife's children. Since the screenplay is based on a novel, part of the pleasure to be had is in the richness of the language, delivered by 3 superb actors. Chabert is a wounded character and Depardieu hides him under a large hat, reminiscent of a fop and The Cat in the Hat. If Depardieu is not as memorable as he has been in other roles it's probably because here he defers his scenes to Fabrice Luchini as his lawyer and Fanny Ardant as his former wife. Luchini is the mediator between the two and while his words may soothe, his eyes are daggers. Ardant at times resembles Ingrid Bergman and she isn't afraid to show how manipulative her character is. Her love for Chabert is explicably entangled with his money and her soft dresses, bonnets and ribbons hide a viper. A special nod to the costume designer Franca Squarciapino, and to Angelo's discreet use of classical music. June 17, 2001

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