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TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE (ALL THE MORNINGS OF THE WORLD) (1991)
Directed by: Alain Corneau.
Produced by: Jean-Louis Livi.
Written by: Pascal Quignard & Alain Corneau, from the novel by Quignard.
Director of Photography: Yves Angelo.
Edited by: Marie-Josephe Yoyotte.
Music by: Jordi Savall.
Released by: Koch Lorber.
Language: French with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: France. 115 min. Not Rated. With: Gérard Depardieu, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Anne Brochet, Caroline Sihol, Guillaume Depardieau & Carole Richert.
DVD Features: Two Discs. Digitally restored & re-mastered. “Jordi Savall: In Search of Perfect Sound” documentary. Interviews with Alain Corneau, Jean-Pierre Marielle & Jordi Savall. “Making of” featurette. Trailer. Koch Lorber Films Online DVD-ROM web link. Eight-page collector’s booklet with essays by film critic Robert Horton & music historian Stuart Cheney.

Storytelling convention usually dictates that voice-over narration imparts information not otherwise in the film. However, this 17th century period piece rendering the relationship of two Baroque viol players, Sainte Colombe and Marin Marais, pays little heed to that maxim with mixed results, though often succeeding at evoking elegiac feelings through a stirring combination of canvas-like vistas and a soundtrack featuring music composed by the real-life Sainte Colombe and Marais, performed by renowned instrumentalist Jordi Savall.

Now a court musician, the older Marais (Gérard Depardieu in a restrained performance) tells the story to his young pupils in flashback – a change from the novel – sharing how he, as a young man, became the student of the renowned Sainte Colombe (Jean-Pierre Marielle, understatedly moving). After the death of his beloved wife, Sainte Colombe had shut himself off from the world to raise his two daughters. He begrudgingly accepts the interloper has a student, not because of the young man’s artistry, but for the passion of his pleas. The younger Marais is played by Depardieu’s son Guillaume, who is excellent at conveying ambitious single-mindedness. Marais absorbs all he can from the elder master, while also becoming involved with Sainte Colombe’s daughter, Madeleine (Anne Brochet), behind her father’s back.

The problem of the voice-over is that it telegraphs what should be included in the images, giving the film a too-verbal quality. For example, the older Marais refers to his wearing a coat “as red as a cock’s crest,” punctuating a detail already visible onscreen. While underscoring the film’s theme of giving voice to loss (in Sainte Colombe’s case, to his dead wife), the voice-over runs counter to articulating this expression through music. Indeed, some of the most effective scenes imply music itself is Sainte Colombe’s language of communication.

Finally, the film's translated title is noticeably absent in the subtitles or narration. Instead, the titular phrase is translated as part of the statement, “Each day dawns but once,” which, come to think of it, is a more suitable designation given the subject: music’s ability to capture life’s fleeting nature.

DVD Extras: In the making-of featurette, it’s a singular pleasure watching the playful Depardieu at work on this solemn project, confirming one’s suspicion that he is, at heart, a big clown. Of the far-too-short interview excerpts, Marielle’s is the most illuminating: he reveals how the film helped him develop a deeper respect for musicians and other artists, whose skills he admires for being much more disciplined compared to the vaguer technical process of actors. The Savall documentary is strictly for aficionados. The violist discusses, among other concepts, how he considers notes to be “enemies," with the musician’s quest being to discover their uniqueness. (Since the viol is no longer in popular use, he was self-taught and frequently picks up pointers on his method through research.) Puzzlingly, the doc is approximately closer to 48 minutes in length, rather than the 65 minutes as advertised. Reymond Levy
March 24, 2006