Fanny (1961)

Nominated for Best Picture of 1961, Fanny is a film set on the waterfront of Marseilles. It's about two young lovers who separate thanks to (what else?) a misunderstanding. He's always wanted to escape the place of his birth, and she's always wanted just to see him happy. The morning after they reveal that they love each other and spend their first night together, Marius (played by Horst Buchholz) leaves Marseilles for five years on a scientific voyage, and Fanny (played by Leslie Caron) stays behind to marry the aging Panisse (played by Maurice Chevalier).

The cast is made up primarily of French actors, with the exception of Buchhoz, who is German born, and they all seem to be enjoying themselves tremendously. Chevalier always looked like he was having the time of his life in every movie, and even a deathbed scene raises a smile here. And Charles Boyer, as Marius' father, gets many laughs with the kind of bluster he was well known for in his later, more comedic roles. The scenes involving these two great film stars are highlights of the movie, especially the scene where they negotiate for the future of Fanny and Marius' not-yet-born child. Georgette Anys as Fanny's mother, Honorine, provides another layer of comedy as the woman who thinks she is marrying Panisse, only to discover that he prefers her daughter instead.

The heart of the movie is the relationship between Marius and Fanny. From the first scene these two have together, you can see that they are in love. Marius, in particular, shows the reluctance he feels in leaving Fanny behind, even though he has always dreamed of leaving his father's tiny cafe for the seas. Buchholz is good at demonstrating just how difficult such a choice can be, how tortured he feels emotionally. And Fanny must come to terms with the fact that she must marry a man who is not the father of her child but who promises to treat them both well. Caron must consistently reveal the regret she feels for having lost her lover while simultaneously feeling joy at the saving of her public virtue by a marriage of convenience. She was best known as a star of musicals, but here Caron demonstrates her skill at acting without singing and dancing. Both Buchholz and Caron, although somewhat old to be playing teenagers, are charming. There's a real sense of erotic tension between them, even when they have a very brief chance meeting later in the film; it only takes a few looks at each other to reveal that they still have the same feelings as when they were teens.

Much of the film is obviously shot inside a studio. However, the outdoor shots along the waterfront are spectacular. A sense of life, of energy, abounds there. I particularly enjoyed the opening sequence showing the city from above. The camera makes its way to the specific location of much of the action of the film, and by the time we arrive at the cafe, we viewers certainly feel as if we are in France. We acclimate almost immediately to the environment.

I'd never even heard of this film before I saw it recently. It was nominated the same year that West Side Story took the Oscar for Best Picture, and that film has been so widely loved and praised, perhaps a movie like Fanny is ultimately just too light and enjoyable to have gotten the same sort of reaction. (The other nominees were all very serious in tone: The Guns of Navarone, The Hustler, and Judgment at Nuremberg. Not many smiles or laughs to be had in that grouping.) Watch Fanny knowing that despite some of its more somber subject matter (illegitimacy, loveless marriages of convenience, deception), you'll still feel uplifted by it.