Obliged by the Peronist regime to leave his home country, Luis Saslavsky did what every self-respecting writer/director would do: he settled in France! This is undoubtedly the weakest of the handful of films he made there. He and his production designer Serge Pimenoff have given it a neo-realist look but that is where the comparison ends.
The poster makes it quite clear that 'the longed-for body' of the title belongs to Belinda Lee who is establishing a career in Europe after being 'dropped' by Rank. She looks utterly ravishing here as bad girl Lina whose sexual charisma wreaks havoc in the lives of both the Guillaume of Daniel Gelin and the Henri of Maurice Ronet. Add to the mix the exquisite Dany Carrel as Marinette who suffers the pangs of unrequited love for Henri and you have the recipe for passionate drama.
It turns out alas to be the proverbial 'damp squib'. Not only is the tempo much too 'lento' to maintain our interest but the whole enterprise seems strangely tame and old fashioned compared to the similarly themed 'Et Dieu crea la Femme' of three years earlier. The dreary score does the film no favours at all.
Ill-fated Belinda Lee possessed what Byron called 'the fatal gift of Beauty.' One would hope that it brought her at least a measure of happiness in her all too short and 'notorious' life.
Review of Ce corps tant désiré
