The Paris Waltz


The Paris Waltz is a 1950 French-Italian historical musical film directed by Marcel Achard and starring Yvonne Printemps, Pierre Fresnay and Jacques Charon. It portrays the life of the nineteenth century composer Jacques Offenbach.

Synopsis

In Paris during the Second Empire, the composer Jacques Offenbach discovers an unknown singer, the soprano Hortense Schneider. He writes lead roles for her in his stage works which make her famous in France and beyond. When he consoles Schneider at the end of her various love affairs their relationship develops and Offenbach falls in love with her. While she is unfaithful to him, he continues to write more operettas featuring her, including several of his most famous works.

Cast list

Background

Filming took place at Fontainebleau and at the Studios de Boulogne. Printemps's costumes were by Christian Dior. Fresnay and Printemps had been partners in private life since 1932 when her marriage to Sacha Guitry broke up, and they had worked together since Coward's Conversation Piece in April 1934 where he won excellent reviews, and their stage partnership was greatly admired. In the same year Printemps and Fresnay had a screen hit in Abel Gance's La dame aux camélias, and between then and 1951 they appeared together in eight films. Raymonde Allain had already played the Empress Eugénie in the 1937 film Les Perles de la couronne.
The music was by Offenbach, arranged by Louis Beydts. The film credits end by a dialogue between the screenwriter and Offenbach in shadow show:
The music uses songs from Offenbach's stage works La Chanson de Fortunio, La Vie parisienne, La Périchole, Madame Favart, La Belle Hélène, La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein and Belle Lurette,.
The reviewer in Sight and Sound described La Valse de Paris as "a stylised musical" and praised Fresnay's "delightful, lightly caricatured portrayal of Offenbach, and noted Printemps's "grace and waywardness and allure". Although the first screen work with the composer as principal character, Offenbach scholar Jean-Claude Yon considers the film's direction as "casual", with Achard resorting to clichés; he also finds Printemps unconvincing as Schneider, spoiling the subtilty of Fresnay personation. From a marxist approach of Siegfried Kracauer and the Offenbach in Montmartre of Manuel Rosenthal Achard's 1950s Offenbach is "precious" with little to do with the real person.