Le bel indifférent (1958) User Reviews

Just a gigolo

[dbdumonteil · 20 December 2009]

This short by Jacques Demy is based on Jean Cocteau's play.Although it begins with a curtain rising ,it was not filmed on stage (Edith Piaf and Paul Meurisse performed it on stage ,but it was not successful).One already feels Demy's interest in colors : only three ,the red walls,the black dress and the white sheets .The play is actually a long monologue,the man having not a single line to say :all that she says (she seems older than him) doesn't touch him in the least .It also seems that no-one is immune to his charm ,for after twenty minutes of plea,she is still waiting for him to come back.

Cocteau's influence on Demy would emerge again in his marvelous "Peau D'Ane" ("Donkey Skin").But this short is only for Demy's completists.

Visually fine, story-wise not really

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 15 September 2015]

"Le bel indifférent" is a French half-hour film from almost 60 years ago. Still, I personally felt, visually it looked much more modern. Reminded me of Wes Anderson with the dialogs being Rainer Werner Fassbinder. The director is Jacques Demy, a 4-time Academy Award nominee and writer Jean Cocteau is also fairly famous, at least in France. There are only 2 people in here, a woman and a man, apparently a couple or they are just having an affair. For the entire film, the woman talks and talks and talks about their relationship and what is going on inside her, how she feels etc. The man, however, does not say a word, sits on the sofa almost the entire time and listens. or does he really? Red is a very dominant color in here and I certainly liked the looks of this short film. However, the woman's ramblings became boring quickly, so this film started to drag a bit. That's also why, all in all, I cannot really recommend it. But if you like films that look like theater plays, you may want to check this one out.