Directed by:
Jean DelannoyCinematography:
Armand ThirardComposer:
Georges AuricCast:
Michèle Morgan, Pierre Blanchar, Line Noro, Jean Desailly, Andrée Clément, Rosine Luguet, Germaine Michel, Mona Dol, Florence BrièrePlots(1)
Adapted by Pierre Bost and Jean Aurenche from a novel by Andre Gide, Symphonie Pastorale proved yet another box-office success for popular French filmmaker Jean Delannoy. Michelle Morgan stars as a blind orphaned girl who is adopted by kindly pastor Pierre Blancher. The pastor's paternal affection for the girl blossoms into romantic love, despite the fact that he's already married. As a form of courtship, Delannoy fills the sightless Morgan's head with visions of a "perfect" world, as harmonious as her favorite musical piece, Beethoven's Symphonie Pastorale (you'll recall that composition from Disney's Fantasia). Delannoy's son Jean Desailly, likewise falling in love with Morgan, arranges for an operation that will restore the girl's sight. This plunges Delannoy into despair: once Morgan sees the world for herself, and not as an idyllic image conjured up by the pastor, she will be lost to him forever. A delicate, evenly-paced fable ending in tragedy, Symphonie Pastorale was harpooned in later years by New Wave critics who complained that Delannoy, BOST and Aurenche "trivialized" their adaptations of literary classics. The audiences, who ate up the film like cotton candy, didn't seem to be bothered in the least over the filmmakers' so-called diminishing of the Gide original. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Michèle Morgan
France
Best movies:
The Moment of Truth (1952)
The Fallen Idol (1948)
The Seven Deadly Sins (1952)
Pierre Blanchar
France
Best movies:
Wooden Crosses (1932)
Adorable Sinner (1959)
L'Atlantide (1932)
Line Noro
France
Best movies:
Nous sommes tous des assassins (1952)
J'accuse ! (1938)
Pépé le Moko (1937)
Jean Desailly
France
Best movies:
The Professional (1981)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1959)
The Soft Skin (1964)
Andrée Clément
France
Best movies:
Angels of Sin (1943)
La Vierge du Rhin (1953)
Pastoral Symphony (1946)
Rosine Luguet
France
Best movies:
Mademoiselle (1966)
Pastoral Symphony (1946)
Ah! The Beautiful Priestesses of Bacchus (1954)
Germaine Michel
France
Best movies:
Inspector Maigret (1958)
Les Copains du dimanche (1958)
Des gens sans importance (1956)
Mona Dol
France
Best movies:
The Fire Within (1963)
Le Joueur (1958)
Such a Pretty Little Beach (1949)
Florence Brière
France
Best movies:
Inspector Maigret (1958)
Jury of One (1974)
Un clair de lune a Maubeuge (1962)