All the Mornings of the World (1991)

Music for your soul or for the fame and fortune?

The central theme of this movie is what is music for? To master Sainte Colombo, it is for expression and exploration of the soul, where words cannot go there, music as a meditation and communing with the sorrows and passion. To the young Marin Marias it is a means to fame, fortune, success, a job in the king's court.

The two viewpoints are interconnected when the young Marin Marias enters the lives of Sainte Colombe and his two daughters. The family had been in perpetual mourning for the death of Mrs. Sainte Colombe, with the father retiring into a garden hut to commune with his music and ghostly visitations from his dead wife. The daughters were left to fend for themselves, and the appearance of a young man sparks their interest. After initially refusing to take him in as a student, he relents to his daughters. One thing leads to another, and after using both the hospitality of Sainte Colombe, and leaving his elderly daughter broken and ruined, Marin Marais gets what he wants which is a position as musician in the king's court.

But all of the fame, fortune and glamour cannot satisfy him, so he returns to search out his old teacher, to find the great secret meaning of music. The master asks him what music means, and Marin guesses again and again without finding the answer. Finally he gives up and has a final lesson (first lesson from Master Sainte Colombe's point of view). And he has learned that music goes beyond words, and into a realm beyond touching death and man's temporary existence.

The second disc contains a wonderful documentary of Jordi Savall, the viol soloist who plays for the soundtrack of the film. It is 45 minutes, including interviews, performances, and explanations of how the viol da gamba captures the heartstrings of musically sensitive people. The two disc collection is well worth the price, as learning about music and the search for perfect sound to express that which cannot be done with words is a priceless educational process. July 6, 2008

What else to say?

After reading 40 reviews, and studying a portion of the music myself, I find there is a sense of unrelieved sadness in this film. You WANT there to be some actual living communication. But I believe the point of the film lies in the daughters' sung duet near the beginning. The chanson "Il etait une Jeune Fillette" was one of the most popular songs of the time, translated into 5 languages over 2 centuries. It deals with the desire of a girl to die because her parents have sent her to a Convent rather than allow her to seek her true love, all for their own status in the world (and maybe the next as well). The notion of the imposition of parental will on offspring is a timeless issue in therapy and in creative work, and the inability to say what you feel is close behind. Even aside from the beautiful, expressive musical harmonies, perhaps the point of the story is how poor and inexpressive the harmonies can be between people. July 5, 2008

tous les matins...

Since I bought it as a present I did not see it, but no doubts it is one of the best films I have ever seen. May 19, 2008

All the Mornings of the World

Corneau's sublime meditation on music as all-consuming force is exquisitely realized, with outstanding set and costume design and jaw-dropping cinematography. Depardieu "pere et fils" both excel as Marais, but veteran player Marielle steals the show as St. Colombe, the forbidding, tortured musical genius, who still experiences visions of his departed wife years after her death. Don't miss this ravishing ode to the pain of lost love and the solace of music, a visual and aural feast you're bound to digest with pleasure. July 18, 2007

misleading reviews of a flawed masterpiece

Another reviewer wrote that "none of the actors is a musician, or even a viol player". Let us hope, first of all, that this was supposed to read "let alone a viol player".

This reviewer went on to say "thus, the two Depardieux and especially Marielle underwent several months of serious training on the instrument. The results are that the fingerings on the frets of the viols follows precisely the music being played".

This is frankly rubbish. Guillaume Depardieu (who I believe plays the cello in real life) makes a damn good job of miming. Gerard is not bad. Marielle, however, is appalling to the extent of destroying the carefully built-up atmosphere on several occasions.

Terminology:

Other reviewers (and the subtitles of the Jordi Savall documentary) have made the mistake of referring to the instrument as the "viola" (even the "baroque viola" in one review). The correct term in English is "viola da gamba" or "gamba" for short (not "viola" - this is the alto/tenor member of the violin family, the tenor/bass being the cello). It can also be referred to as the "bass viol" - or just "viol" for (there were also such things as, for example, treble and tenor viols, but the bass was the main instrument of the family).

Trust me, I'm a musician (and play four sizes of viol as well as baroque violin and viola, among other things).

Having said this, the film is beautiful and well worth repeated watching.
The music is stupendous.

The Savall documentary is also pretty good - apart from the subtitles.
July 18, 2007

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