Benjamin, or the Diary of an Innocent Young Man

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• published: 08 Aug 2015
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"BENJAMIN," which opened yesterday at the Paris Theater, is a sick, stylish libertine farce, in color, set in 18th-century France and directed by Michael Deville, whose earlier films were not released in this country. It stars Pierre Clementi as a young man—somewhere between Tom Jones and Rousseau's Emile—who, at 17, rides with his mangy old tutor to the estate of his aunt, where he is to learn the ways of the world. The rest of the movie is a series of attempts to seduce him and Catherine Deneuve, who plays an orphan living with her chaper-one on a neighboring estate. The movie is entirely tongue-in-cheek, a parody on all kinds of seduction comedies. There are so many parodistic allusions that "Benjamin" is almost a tapestry of scenes from other films—"TomJones," "Mademoiselle," Liaisons Dangereuses," "Marienbad." There is a sense of enameled decadence: teeth and jeweled rings and switches torn from trees are always doing minor damage to someone—as lovely, elegant tableaus vivants unfold in the French countryside. Miss Deneuve is in love with Michel Piccoli, the lover of Mr. Clementi's aunt, Michele Morgan, who has not been exactly estranged from her nephew, who loves Miss Deneuve, who is not indifferent to him either, or he to his aunt, who is really desperately in love with Michel Piccoli, who loves Miss Deneuve. Not "La Ronde" exactly, but a kind of current that could blow them all either way. There is really no plot, just a succession of other characters, and flirtations, and falls into the bathtub, and surprises in the garden house, very graceful and wicked but—since the thing is also a rather redundant, elaborate tease—not always fascinating. The dénouement is very odd, quite different in style from the rest of the movie—less formal, in fact, more relenting and natural—and then more sharply satirical than anything that has gone before. The movie's humor is a kind of special taste, like cloves or pepper, or all things polite with a tinge of viciousness. It is quite beautiful and elegant, though, at times. "Hypothesè," a wordless French animated cartoon about holes in a computer card, is a nice short playing with "Benjamin." BENJAMIN, screenplay by Nina Companeez; directed by Michel Deville and produced by Mag Bodard, a Part film. Marianne Productions co-production presented by Paramount Pictures. At the Paris Theater, 58th Street west of Fifth Avenue. Running time: 108 minutes. Countess . . . . . Michele Morgan Anne . . . . . Catherine Deneuve Benjamin . . . . . Pierre Clementi Philippe . . . . . Michel Piccoli Marion . . . . . Francine Berge Celestine . . . . . Anna Gael Victorine . . . . . Catherine Rouvel Camille . . . . . Jacques Dufilho Woman . . . . . Odile Versois