L’Horizon
France,
1967, 90 min
Shown in 1969
CREDITS
- dir
-
Jacques Rouffio, Georges Conchon
- prod
-
Jacques Ruffio, Francis Girod
- scr
-
Jacques Ruffio
- cam
-
Raoul Coutard
- cast
-
Jacques Perrin, Macha Meril, Rene Dary, Monique Melinand, Steve Gadler, Marc Monnet, Jean-Louis Bory
- source
-
International Cinevision, Paris
OTHER
Although Jacques Rouffio’s reputation lies chiefly in the realm of scriptwriting, or as technical advisor to new young filmmakers in France, he has astonished everyone by finally making his own film—a beautifully conceived adaptation of Georges Conchon’s novel, Les Honneurs de la Guerre. The result of the collaboration between director and novelist is a deeply disturbing, poetic anti-war film, set in the 1917-18 period. One should recall that the Great War seems to have affected the French and the British much more profoundly than Americans, at least in cinematic dramas. The Horizon is as much a tragedy of lovers caught in the maelstrom of wartime as it is a satirical denunciation of hypocritical views toward patriotism and war heroes. It is difficult to dismiss a haunting sense of the influence of Radiquet (Le Diable Au Corps) and Cocteau (Thomas L’Imposteur), both of whom conceived the war era as the beautiful coda to a time of innocence lost. When a young war hero, Antonin LaVallette, returns to his home to recover from battle wounds, he remains an outsider to his family and friends. In his isolation, he yields to a sense of hopelessness about the war’s outcome and his future, and only a sudden love affair with a beautiful widow, Elisa, strikes a dormant spirit of rebellion into Antonin’s conscience. He is almost persuaded to become a deserter by his parents, but the atmosphere of the times controls every decision. The Horizon alternates between disillusion (Rouffio and Coutard, the cinematographer, are hypnotized by dawns and twilights), and the timeless, individual struggle to justify participation in war. The film’s brilliance is enhanced by the acting, especially Jacques Perrin as Antonin. He is the personification of all men who have glimpsed the inevitability of wartime slaughter—who wish to alleviate the painful wounds of body, spirit and love.
—Albert Johnson
FACTOID #222
The SFIFF has honored some of cinema’s best lensers with tributes, including James Wong Howe (1974), Gabriel Figueroa (1984), Nestor Alemendros (1986), Ernest Dickerson (1991) and John Alton (1994). Cinematographer Haskell Wexler received a tribute as a featured filmmaker in the New Directors series, when he appeared with his directorial debut, Medium Cool.
