reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (03/27/85)
There is a common pitfall in staging a classic comedy. All
too often, the director and actors remember the "classic" and
forget the "comedy". Shakespeare and Checkov suffer frequently
from the mortician's school of comedic staging. So does Moliere.
Gerard Depardieu's film version of "Le Tartuffe" is a case in
point.
This version of Moliere's classic play of false piety and
gullibility was derived from the National Theater of Strasbourg's
stage production. Depardieu has essentially filmed the play. He
relies almost exclusively on lengthy, motionless medium shots.
The camera almost never moves, or shows us a closeup or a long
shot. This rather dull shot selection is completely consistent
with the play it records. Not only does the camera never move,
but neither do the actors. The sets are exceedingly stark, with
no furniture breaking the monotony of the walls and floors unless
its presence was essential to the script.
The result is, by and large, dull. The performances are low
key and more suited to realistic drama than comedy. Time and
again obvious opportunities to make the audience laugh are know-
ingly passed up. According to a native French speaker I saw "Le
Tartuffe" with, the actors speak Moliere's poetry with great
beauty. Within the limitations of of the basic choices of the
staging, the performances are excellent. Depardieu himself plays
Tartuffe, the convincingly pious hypocrite who tricks a well-
intentioned but gullible father. He is perhaps a bit too con-
vincing, almost never showing us the scoundrel behind the mask of
humility. The result is a very plausible, and somewhat frighten-
ing, Tartuffe, but we see too little of the humbug to make the
character even remotely amusing. Francois Perier is stern and
implacable as the duped father. The role is easily prey to paro-
dy, and Perier assiduously avoids any hint of farce. He succeeds
in convincing us that the father isn't a total ass and is com-
pletely sincere, but also provides a figure of no fun whatsoever.
But good performances ultimately cannot save an entirely
misguided concept. I found the first half of "Le Tartuffe" al-
most unbearably slow and static. The second half was an improve-
ment, but not good enough to save the production as a whole.
Depardieu's directorial talent is difficult to judge. His
choices are perfectly matched to the production he filmed, but
can one be satisfied with able service to a fundamentally flawed
concept? I cannot recommend "Le Tartuffe" to any but the most
devoted Moliere fan.
(As an postscript, I should say that the French speaker I
mentioned earlier was quite pleased by the overall production.
Fluency in French may well make the difference for this film.)
--
Peter Reiher
reiher@ucla-cs.arpa
{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher