''The Lovers of Verona'' (french: Les amants de Vérone) is a 1949 French
romantic drama film
Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typica ...
co-written and directed by
André Cayatte
André Cayatte (3 February 1909, in Carcassonne – 6 February 1989, in Paris) was a French filmmaker, writer and lawyer, who became known for his films centering on themes of crime, justice, and moral responsibility.
Cayatte began his directoral ...
, loosely based on the William Shakespeare play ''
Romeo and Juliet
''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...
''. The film was a joint project of
screenwriter Jacques Prevert and director Cayatte and enjoyed great international success. It was released in Italy in 1949, then internationally in 1951.
Plot
Shortly after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Angelo, a
glassblower
Glassblowing is a glassforming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble (or parison) with the aid of a blowpipe (or blow tube). A person who blows glass is called a ''glassblower'', ''glassmith'', or ''gaffer''. A '' lampworke ...
from
Murano
Murano is a series of islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It lies about north of Venice and measures about across with a population of just over 5,000 (2004 figures). It is famous for its glass making. It was on ...
, and Georgia Maglia, the daughter of a
fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
magistrate
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...
, are cast as stand-ins for the stars of a film version of ''Romeo and Juliet'' being shot on location in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
. Inevitably they fall in love and their affair parallels the Shakespeare tragedy. The principal difficulty is the scheming of Rafaële, the Magia family's ruthless
consigliere
Consigliere ( , ; plural ) is a position within the leadership structure of the Sicilian, Calabrian, and Italian-American Mafia. The word was popularized in English by the novel ''The Godfather'' (1969) and its film adaptation. In the novel, a c ...
. In the end, Angelo is killed and Georgia dies at his side.
Cast
*
Serge Reggiani
Serge Reggiani (2 May 1922 – 23 July 2004) was an Italian-French actor and singer. He was born in Reggio Emilia, Italy and moved to France with his parents at the age of eight.
After studying acting at the Conservatoire des arts cinématog ...
as Angelo (Romeo)
*
Anouk Aimée
Nicole Françoise Florence Dreyfus (born 27 April 1932), known professionally as Anouk Aimée () or Anouk, is a French film actress, who has appeared in 70 films since 1947, having begun her film career at age 14. In her early years, she studi ...
as Georgia (Juliet)
*
Martine Carol
Martine Carol (born Marie-Louise Jeanne Nicolle Mourer; 16 May 1920 – 6 February 1967) was a French film actress.
Career
Born Maryse Mourer (or Marie-Louise Jeanne Nicolle Mourer) in Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne, (France), she studied acting und ...
as Bettina Verdi, the star of the film
*
Pierre Brasseur
Pierre Brasseur (22 December 1905 – 16 August 1972), born Pierre-Albert Espinasse, was a French actor.
Biography
The son of actors Georges Espinasse and Germaine Brasseur, the latter a cousin of Albert Brasseur; his grandfather, Jules B ...
as Rafaële
*
Marcel Dalio
Marcel Dalio (born Marcel Benoit Blauschild; 23 November 1899 in Paris – 18 November 1983) was a French movie actor. He had major roles in two films directed by Jean Renoir, ''La Grande Illusion'' (1937) and ''The Rules of the Game'' (1939). ...
as Amedeo Maglia
*
Marianne Oswald
Marianne Oswald (January 9, 1901 – February 25, 1985) was the stage name of Sarah Alice Bloch, a French singer and actress born in Sarreguemines in Alsace-Lorraine. She took this stage name from a character she much admired, the unhappy Oswal ...
as Laetitia
*
René Génin
René Génin (25 January 1890 – 24 October 1967) was a French stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1931 and 1965.
Selected filmography
* ''The Brighton Twins'' (1936)
* ''27 Rue de la Paix'' (1936)
* '' Nights ...
as the guardian of the tomb
*
Yves Deniaud as Ricardo, an actor
*
Charles Blavette
Charles Blavette (24 June 1902 – 21 November 1967) was a French film actor. He appeared in 50 films between 1933 and 1966.
Selected filmography
* '' Jofroi'' (1934) - Antoine
* ''Angèle'' (1934) - Tonin
* ''Toni'' (1935) - Antonio Canov ...
as the head of the glassworks
*
Marcel Pérès
Marcel Pérès (born 15 July 1956, Oran, Algeria) is a French musicologist, composer, choral director and singer, and the founder of the early music group Ensemble Organum. He is an authority on Gregorian and pre-Gregorian chant.
Pérès was ...
as Domini, a glassblower
Production
The film was shot at the
Billancourt Studios
Billancourt Studios was a film studio in Paris which operated between 1922 and 1992. Located in Boulogne-Billancourt, it was one of the leading French studios. It was founded in the silent era by Henri Diamant-Berger. During the Second World War ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and
on location in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
. The sets were designed by
art director
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...
René Moulaert
René Moulaert (1901–1965) was a Belgian art director who worked on designing stage and film sets.Thys p.316
Selected filmography
* '' The Marriage of Mademoiselle Beulemans'' (1932)
* '' Strange Inheritance'' (1943)
* '' Night Shift'' (1944)
...
.
In his memoirs, cinematographer Henri Alekan recalled when 16-years-old Anouk Aimée was forced to dive completely naked into the cold waters of the Adige river, without anyone managing to keep away the onlookers obviously interested in the scene.
Critical reception
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
called the film "
intriguing romance", while
Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...
of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called it "a story set within a weird and grotesque frame of contemporary morbidness in Venice and gaudy film-making in Italy."
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael's opinions oft ...
wrote, "The film's sensuous poetic elegance contrasts with the seamy elements it encompasses... You may feel you've been made too aware of the film's artistic intentions, and the romanticism can drive you a little nuts."
References
External links
*
*
''The Lovers of Verona''at
Fandango
Fandango is a lively partner dance originating from Portugal and Spain, usually in triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is usually bipartite: it has ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovers of Verona
1949 films
1949 romantic drama films
1940s French films
1940s French-language films
Films based on Romeo and Juliet
Films directed by André Cayatte
Films produced by Raymond Borderie
Films scored by Joseph Kosma
Films set in Venice
Films shot at Billancourt Studios
Films shot in Venice
Films with screenplays by Jacques Prévert
French black-and-white films
French romantic drama films