This film is based on a short story by Guy de Maupassant. There are two
versions of the film on the Blu-ray that I watched today. The first was made
in 1968, the second in 1980. Both were directed by Erwin C. Dietrich.
That's interesting. How often has a film been remade by the same director? I
can only think of two other examples. Alfred Hitchcock made
"The Man Who Knew Too Much"
in 1934 and 1956. Jess Franco made
"Eugenie"
in 1970 and 1980. In both cases the director thought he could improve on the
original. Neill Blomkamp has said that he wants to remake
"Elysium"
if it's possible to finance it. He says that the film has a lot of good ideas,
but he's unhappy with the way it turned out.
It's not easy to translate the film's title. "Oberst" is a German military
rank that has no direct equivalent in the American army. It's a high ranking
officer, so it's usually translated as colonel. The story by Guy de Maupassant
is called "The colonel's cousins", so I'll stick with colonel. "Frau
Oberst" isn't a female colonel, the title refers to a colonel's wife. That means that
the full title is "The nieces of the colonel's wife"; not cousins. When the
film was released in America, no attempt was made to translate the title.
Instead, it was called "Secrets of a French Maid". Ugh! That makes no sense at
all in the context of the film. Yes, there is a maid, but (1) she's not
French, and (2) she's a minor character with only five minutes screen time.
Foolishly, I watched the 1980 version first. I should have watched them the
other way round. Sorry. I'll watch the 1968 version tomorrow.
The colonel's wife is a a young widow. She lives in a large mansion. The film
takes place in a time when army officers were rich nobleman. It's probably the
18th or 19th Century. She has two young nieces in her care, and she's trying
to find husbands for them.
Julia is played by the stunningly beautiful actress Brigitte Lahaie.
Florentine is played by Pascale Vital in her first film role.
The trouble is that Julia and Florentine are more interested in one another
than in men. They're both still virgins. The colonel's wife encourages them to
find men. They do what they're told. Julia has sex with the stable boy. He's
not very intelligent, but he's good at sex. Florentine wants to have sex with
the gardener, but she finds him so repulsive that it takes a few days before
she can bring herself to do it.
The colonel's wife takes her responsibility as her nieces' legal guardian very
seriously. She goes to bed with the stable boy and the gardener to test them.
She wants to know whether they're good enough to satisfy her nieces.
At some point the plot breaks down. There are multiple sex scenes with various
men and women. The colonel's wife has a large sexual appetite and devours
every man she sees. Not just men, she also has sex with her maid.
This is a highly erotic film. The men in the film are just being used by the
three women, especially the colonel's wife. It's not a film that won any
Oscars, but it succeeded in its goal of presenting beautiful eye candy. The
cinematography is outstanding. The scenery is tranquil and relaxing,
emphasising the gentle erotic nature of the film.
You say that you "foolishly" watched the later version before the earlier one. I suspect that's a matter of perspective. Two words fully justify your decision - Brigitte Lahaie.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly(?), the subtitles for my copy translate Die Nichten der Frau Oberst as The Nieces of Mrs. Colonel, rather than the Colonel's wife.
Not very good transliteration, but kind of like it.
Bonus - it matches the word count in the source.
If a director makes the same film twice, I assume it's because he wanted to improve on it. That's why I think I should watch the older film first.
DeleteIt's usual in German for the wife of a person to be called by the same word as the female word of his profession. The context makes it obvious what's meant. The most common example is "Bürgermeisterin". It could be a female mayor, but the wife of a male mayor is also called "Bürgermeisterin", even though she has no official capacity.
In the case of "Frau Oberst", which could also be written as "Oberstin", it's unambiguous, because soldiers were always men until recent years. "The colonel's wife" is the only correct translation.
No argument on your viewing order logic - merely that Brigitte falls under the category of "Extenuating Circumstances" which can justify the decision.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Colonel was a rather odd way to translate it. My comment about it matching the word count of the original was my best guess at the logic behind that.