Montparnasse 19 [Les Amants de Montparnasse] **** (Gérard Philipe, Lilli Palmer, Anouk Aimée, Gérard Séty, Lino Ventura, Lea Padovani, Lila Kedrova) – Classic Movie Review 8670

Director Jacques Becker’s penultimate film, the 1958 artist biopic Montparnasse 19 [Les Amants de Montparnasse], gives a fascinating insight into the life of Italian tubercular, alcoholic, poor painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920), famed for his elongated human portraits.

Montparnasse 19 is enjoyable and touching, with a good performance by Gérard Philipe and even better ones by Lilli Palmer as his mistress Beatrice Hastings and Anouk Aimée as Jeanne Hébuterne, the young woman from a wealthy family he falls for in the Paris of 1919. Her parents Madame and Monsieur Hébuterne (Denise Vernac, Jean Lanier) try to stop the relationship by cutting off financial help.

Also in the cast are the excellent Gérard Séty, Lino Ventura, Lea Padovani and Lila Kedrova.

Montparnasse 19 [Les Amants de Montparnasse] [Modigliani of Montparnesse] is directed by Jacques Becker, runs 119 minutes, is made by Franco London Films, Astra Cinematografica, Sandro Pallavicini I.N.C, is released by Cocinor (1958) (France), Continental Distributing (1961) (US) and Mondial (1961) (UK), is written by Jacques Becker (scenario), Max Ophüls and Henri Jeanson, inspired by novel Les Montparnos by Michel-Georges Michel, is shot in black and white by Christian Matras, is produced by Sandro Pallavicini and Henry Deutschmeister, is scored by Georges Van Parys, Paul Misraki and Sebastian Bach, and designed by Jean d’Eaubonne.

The film is dedicated with thanks to Max Ophüls.

Becker’s last film is the 1960 Le Trou.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8670

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com