SUNDAYS & CYBELE Movie Review

Les Dimanches de Ville d'Arvay
Cybele

A traumatized war veteran (Hardy Kruger) suffering from amnesia and vertigo develops a strong emotional bond with a young orphaned girl (Patricia Gozzi). When the innocent relationship between the two is misunderstood and greeted with hostility by the local townspeople, an inevitable but tragic series of events converge to destroy their happiness. A well-meaning but overly “artistic” work of carefully calculated poignancy, Sundays & Cybele feels forced and overbearing just when it needs to back off and simply let its story happen. Spontaneity is replaced by swanky widescreen compositions that call attention to the director rather than the protagonists’ pain, but at least all that art did get noticed; this won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1962. The overly noticeable cinematography is by Henri Decaë (who can be far less showy), and the I-get-it-already score is by Maurice Jarre.

NEXT STOP … The Lacemaker, Manny & Lo, Mrs. Dalloway

1962 110m/B FR Hardy Kruger, Nicole Courcel; D: Serge Bourguignon; M: Maurice Jarre. Academy Awards ‘62: Best Foreign Film; Nominations: Academy Awards ‘63: Best Adapted Score, Best Adapted Screenplay. VHS NYF, DVT, VYY