I believe it was George Harrison who once remarked, “she’s got the Devil in her heart oh no, no,
no-oh…” but it might have been John Lennon? Here Betty Balfour, our own
Queen of Happiness, is infected with the most spiteful of quick tempers and
shows how her impulsive chaotic charm could be turned to destruct mode. The
film’s translation reads as Devil May Care
but I prefer The Beatle’s description… although I’m not entirely sure that
Ricky Dee Drapkin had her in mind when he wrote the song.
Betty was 25 and at the height of her powers in 1928 with
Mr Hitchcock to be her next director after Marcel L'Herbier. This film is a world
away from the light comedies I’ve mostly seen her in but she plays well and
dominates the film with eye-catching intensity. I wouldn’t go as far to say I
don’t get what L'Herbier saw in Jaque Catelain but he’s slightly limited in
comparison to the Balfour emotive engine. He’s so much a product of his
director’s odd worlds that I can’t imagine him in a British film whereas Betty
is positively protean with a cross-border and cross-genre appeal rivaled by very few.
It is not so much of a stretch to accept this tiny woman
as a child as she is in the opening sections of the film. She is a tear-away,
leading her parents a merry dance, not just with her maniacal brothers in tow
but many other juniors from the small port of Le Harve in Northern France, the
gateway to England should anyone want to go there.
 |
| Little miss mischief |
Betty plays Ludivine Bucaille, “une fille étrange…”
who is indeed a little beyond the usual as she drives her father Maurice (Auguste
Picaude) to drink and her mother (Catherine Fonteney) to distraction. There are
some convincing scenes of childish mayhem as Ludvine energetically marshals the
local lads of misrule in endless japes, hiding from the police, trespassing and
pretending to be handicapped.
Ludivine has still to understand the power she has over
her surroundings and when she launches a cruel attack on the house of the
Leherg family for no good reason other than their piousness, she causes more
upset than she bargained for. They smash a window and the kids scatter as Mr Leherg
(Roger Karl) and his young son Delphin (Jaque Catelain) come out to catch their
tormentors. Ludivine is caught by Delphin and an instant flash across their
eyes confuses her enough to wish both he and his father dead. The young
fisherman exposed a weakness she was not expecting and as she spitefully tries
to mask her romantic urges with distaste she protests far too much.
 |
| Jaque Catelain |
Disaster strikes though when the Leherg’s boat goes
missing in a storm. Everyone believes them drowned and Ludivine assumes it’s
her fault and that she has wished death upon them. There is a very poignant
scene in which the fishermen mournfully trudge from the dockside only to encounter
Ludivine and her posse laughing and skipping without a care in the world.
The young woman’s spirits crash to earth and when, joy of
joys, she finds Delphin alive and wandering in shock, she cannot do enough for
him. He loses his mother soon after from the shock and is soon out of house and
home but with no option but to leave. Ludivine persuades her parents to offer
him board and cleans up their house, applying her energy with a new, more
adult, purpose.
Balfour’s ability to switch from comic childishness to
these more dramatic emotions is rare and she imbues even the most slapstick of moments
with an edge; a twinkle in the eye that conveys joy and devilment. Her
character is conflicted fighting a battle between denial and desire that can
only end with her growing up.
 |
| Lauderin trying to impress Ludivine with his largess... |
She meets her match when a showman, Pierre Lauderin (André Nox) comes to town with a gaggle of dancers and other performers. He calls her bluff and is more than amused to see how she responds. We’re unimpressed with his fascination with the girl and so is she.
Soon Ludivine’s not the only player struggling with
integrity as her parents are made an offer they find hard to refuse by the
scheming Lauderin who will clear their debts if he can marry their daughter. Ludivine’s
ability to take offence leads to a pointless stand-off with the man she really loves,
and she succeeds only in making things worse… The Devil is in her heart again
and she will have to work hard to overcome the impact of her temper…
L’Herbier shows us gorgeous locations and this is as an
emphatic a view of the natural world as L’Inhumaine
and L’Argent are of the stylish built
environments. We even get some typically flamboyant mise en scène at the port-side hotel at which the old lech is about
the entrap his young prey… the huge deco space almost repels Ludivine as she
longs for the salty freshness of her honest fisherman…
Then there’s the tunnel through which Ludivine must walk
to reach the adult world of Lauderin’s show bar, the Eden, in which the men
drink and where she finds Delphin making eyes at Thania (the aptly named Kissa
Kouprine) and fighting with another man for her favour… It’s a passage to
another world and one you need to navigate both ways. Again, L’Herbier’s design
is around his emotional narrative and almost built form the characters
outwards. Lauderin looms watching in the shadows behind Ludivine as she looks down
on the unknown pleasures below.
Lauderin is a truly disturbing creation from Nox as he emerges
to leer over the young woman. If the film is about her emergence from childhood,
then he represents all of the darkness she must avoid… repeatedly using money –
he offers her mock-beggars a twenty franc note on their first meeting – muscle and
manipulation he’s a user and abuser. The wicked warlock to Delphin’s handsome
prince: a shady character indeed.
After rebuffing Lauderin’s offer, Ludivine is then gobsmacked
to see Thania’s delight at Delphin fighting for her… what a strange world it is
and, indeed, continues to be…
The film's sets were designed by Lucien Aguettand, Claude
Autant-Lara and Robert-Jules Garnier. The cinematography from Lucien Bellavoine,
Louis Le Bertre and Jean Letort makes the most of the spaces, light and shade
to create a complete world. Holistic L’Herbier.
This film is currently available on Vimeo and is a copy
of the Archives Francaise du Film 2007 restoration with a zippy accompaniment
from Pierre Mancinelli, Michel Peres and David Mancinelli, improvised and recorded
in live conditions. It is to be hoped that it will get a proper digital release
for the many Balfourettes who can't get enough of the lass from Chester-le-Street.
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