Bunuel1976 Review of The Marquise of O

The Marquise of O (1976)

THE MARQUISE OF O (Eric Rohmer, 1976) ***

[7/10 · 24 January 2010]

Despite – or perhaps because of – its being atypically filmed in German, this remains one of Rohmer's more recognized titles. The period setting (the director's first, though not last, feature to adopt this) lends an aesthetic quality in this case which complements – or, one might say, excuses – his customary austerity. The simple plot proves quietly fascinating throughout: an aristocratic lady is saved from near-rape by an enemy Count (Bruno Ganz); though the woman is no great beauty, the man apparently loses his head over her, almost compromising his own rank into the bargain. The Marquise and her family cannot understand this impulsive behavior but, then, she finds herself mysteriously pregnant; her parents and brother obviously shun her, but the returning Count is even more intent on marrying her (she is a widow who has already borne two children). Eventually, the Marquise puts an ad in a newspaper requesting the father to present himself – and, at the appointed hour, it is none other than the mortified Count himself who turns up (having apparently taken advantage of her while she was unconscious on the night of the attack)! As with all of the director's work, this is certainly not for all tastes but, as I said at the beginning, it is exquisitely filmed (by Nestor Almendros) on wonderful and expansive locations – though the approach is thoroughly low-key (mostly confined to medium shots of people conversing against a backdrop of candle-lit interiors), in keeping with the intimate nature of the tale. While, for all his straining for realism, even Rohmer's modern-day efforts could be deemed contrived on occasion, here he seems to have embraced a deliberate artificiality (the expulsion of the bewildered heroine in particular is redolent of barnstorming melodramas!) perhaps to better convey the intolerant morality of its (distant) time. Though I am not sure parallels to the Immaculate Conception were intended, THE MARQUISE OF O does recall Manoel De Oliveira's contemporaneous and, regrettably, little-known BENILDE OR THE VIRGIN MOTHER (1975) which, while comparably 'self-conscious', is perhaps an even more compelling, thought-provoking – and altogether spiritual – experience.