Manon 70 (1968) User Reviews

When Harry Met Sally & Her Brother the Pimp

[rooprect · 7/10 · 31 May 2010]

In the classic 80s comedy "When Harry Met Sally", the premise is set up by the two lead characters discussing if men and women can truly be friends due to sex getting in the way. According to the male perspective, men are always after sex thereby ruining any friendship. The female perspective is the opposite: that women are not so obsessed with sex and therefore emotions reign.

Here we have a sexy 60s film with a very similar structure, except that the point of discussion is whether infidelity happens at a physical level (sex) or an emotional one (love). The male perspective believes infidelity occurs when a person has sex outside the relationship. The female perspective insists that sex is meaningless, and infidelity occurs only if a person falls in love with someone outside the relationship.

The film wastes no time in setting up the premise and showing us how each character reacts when confronted with the reality of the situations. Having a male perspective myself, I definitely side with the dude. However, I'm sure the point of the film is to give the audience a choice. Beware: if you see this film with your wife/girlfriend/husband/boyfriend, you might want to avoid discussing it, lest one of you end up sleeping on the couch.

I have to admit that I didn't like this film at first, due to my personal opinion on the matter, but now that I've had a chance to think about it objectively (it's amazing what a night on the couch can do for a guy), I really want to watch it again.

"In love it is only the commencement that charms."

[morrison-dylan-fan · 6/10 · 7 August 2016]

Reading reviews for Henri Georges-Clouzot's magnificent 1949 epic Manon,I found out that Catherine Deneuve had appeared in a "modern" take on the XVIIIth century novel.Reading a thread on IMDb's Classic Film board about Deneuve ,I got set to see a completely different take on Manon.

The plot:

Traveling to meet the wealthy guy who she is a mistress to,Manon meets Des Grieux. Left breathless by her at first sight,Grieux quickly falls for Manon. Learning that his sister is back in town, Jean-Paul tells all the rich businessmen that Manon is back in town,and that she is a high-class escort. Believing this to be true love, Grieux is taken aback,when he discovers why Manon has come back home.

View on the film:

Revving up with a fashion showcase for Manon,co-writer/(along with Cécil Saint-Laurent) director Jean Aurel & cinematographer Edmond Richard dip into kitsch Pop-Art smoked with "happening" parties,wide shots spanning jet-set boat rides and swaying camera moves breathing in the decadence are joined by Serge Gainsbourg's sweet jazzy score. Surrounding Manon with all the luxuries in life,Aurel dresses the film in immaculate colour coding, designed to give the movie a poppy atmosphere,via all of the glittering clothes perfectly blending into the pristine locations.

Taking an extremely loose riff on Abbé Prévost,the screenplay by Aurel and Laurent digs for a wonderfully ripe, kitschy Melodrama, with Manon's liaisons with Des Grieux and her sugar daddy setting each other off like ticking time bombs. Glossing the title in a cheeky mood,the writers ruin all of the good will they build up by taking the title into sour wrong turns,with moments such as a rape scene feeling completely disconnected to the rest of the film. Looking like she is walking down the catwalk, Catherine Deneuve gives an excellent performance as Manon,who when laying around in bed is given a sex kitten purr which Deneuve bites into, to reveal playful fangs,as Manon reaches 70.

Crams a lot into its 100 minutes

[philosopherjack · 19 May 2018]

Across such an intervening distance, it's hard to know how much Jean Aurel's Manon 70 is channeling the specific morality of its era, versus merely engaging in pretty, titillating fantasies. Journalist Des Grieux (Sami Frey) sees Manon (Catherine Deneuve) in a Japanese airport, and his first transgression follows almost immediately - blowing expense account money on upgrading to first class to boost his chances with her. The gamble works, but the die is already cast - not too much later (whether in narrative or in screen time) he's out of a job, and tolerating behaviour from Manon of the kind for which he earlier said he'd kill her. But then, everybody's doing it - Manon's brother (Jean-Claude Brialy) appears to live primarily on the earnings of pimping her out, even getting a nightclub out of it when an American millionaire Ravaggi (Robert Webber) enters the scene (Ravaggi is the one character who seems turned on primarily by tuning into his own rapaciousness, which may be intended as a shot at the under-sensualized US) . The film crams a lot into its 100 minutes, too much to impress as a serious sociological and psychological investigation, especially when everyone and everywhere looks so ravishing (except for Stockholm which is made to look like the back end of Siberia). Aurel takes Deneuve mostly at face value, which indeed is worth a lot, until one compares to her greatest works of this era. It's hard not to think of the film in relation to her recent cautionary comments on the "Me too" movement - it exemplifies a notion of messy, self-gratifying act-now-work-out-the-details-later hedonism. Perhaps that's not really much of a view of human interaction, but as the film is at least notionally based on an 18th century work of literature, you might conclude it's drawing on some weary notion of the long view.

An entertaining classic with a risqué storyline.

[EyeoftheBeholder1 · 7/10 · 18 January 2010]

So Manon wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be surprisingly. It started off a little dull, but I got into it. Basically, it's about infidelity in relationships, especially in the main characters'. Deneuve's character believes it doesn't matter how many men a woman has slept with, only the number of men she has actually loved. That's a crock of bull in my opinion. A sl*t is a sl*t no matter how you look at it. So anyway, her character is scheming this older gentlemen for his money so she can support her brother and "true love", a long time bf/companion. Anyway, the scheme unravels and she is busted deservingly. She vows to her true love she is forever changed. But we never know if this holds or not.

Honestly, not to sound morbid, but I was hoping for a risky ending like the older gentlemen blowing off the heads of Deneuve and her long time love. Unfortunately, this did not happen. : \ overall, if you're into classic romantic comedies with some edge, go for this one.

A waste of my time....and I rarely would say this about any film.

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 30 September 2010]

This film made my brain hurt and I didn't like it very much at all. That was a surprise to me, as I usually enjoy Catherine Deneuve films. I just found that the characters behaved unpredictably and irrationally--and I kept thinking to myself "does anyone REALLY talk or act like this?!". Now has this been an Absurdist film (like "Buffet Froid"), I might have been able to get some handle on the film. Instead, I just felt very confused and disconnected.

The film begins in Japan. Deneuve is with one man and another is like a stalker--he follows her back to Paris. Within seconds, they are suddenly lovers and announce to each other that if the other cheated, they would leave...or kill them. So naturally, just a few minutes later, each is with another person--she's with some married guy (whose wife is also there and seems fine with this) and he's in Stockholm having sex with some bimbo. Neither kills the other or leaves--and Deneuve actually catches him in the act and immediately takes him back. It's all very civil and completely irrational. After a while, I simply got tired of all this and turned the film off--something I rarely ever do. By then, I simply cared nothing for the characters and the story bored me--as did ALL the characters (not just Deneuve and her kooky boyfriend). All in all, a waste of my time.

Very enjoyable

[mooning_out_the_window · 8/10 · 21 March 2007]

This is a very enjoyable film, and as another poster has said, it has a perfectly cast Catherine Deneuve in the role of Manon. The music becomes a focus of the film, with the sound and lack thereof almost a motif. The film sees Sami Frey's character, Francois, chasing and trying to keep Deneuve's Manon to himself, however she and her brother have been 'trapping' rich men, rather than working for themselves. This film sees Manon have to battle between her love of money and her first 'true love'. Though it is never sentimental drivel. It treats the subject fairly and is interesting throughout. Deneuve would have been about 25 at the time of making this film, and looks fresh and lively in it. Frey, likewise, though it is a Deneuve film. This film has finally become available in the Deneuve box set. It is fun, enjoyable, and never sentimental, has interesting music, and I would recommend it.

Very good!

[RodrigAndrisan · 10/10 · 2 January 2020]

A film made by Jean Aurel, a Romanian like me, a reason for pride. And, a very, very good movie! Excellent acting performances: a very young and very beautiful Catherine Deneuve and a very young and talented Sami Frey. Alongside them, other superb actors: Jean-Claude Brialy and Robert Webber. Jean Martin in a small role. The beautiful Elsa Martinelli also in a small role. Another beauty unknown, Manuela von Oppen, small role too. Another reason why I wanted to see the film is Chris Avram, also a Romanian, also in a small role. Excellent music by Carlos Seixas, Antonio Vivaldi and Serge Gainsbourg.