Lent Reviews Year 4 Week 1: Monsieur Vincent

This week, I review an acclaimed French film about one of my patron saints, Vincent de Paul...

     Monsieur Vincent was released in 1947. It is directed by Maurice Cloche and stars Pierre Fresnay as the titular seventeenth century saint. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1949.

     The saint accomplished much in his lifetime, rising from slavery to eventually sit with and advise royalty and almost singlehandedly creating an impetus for organized charitable work in France. As such it is difficult to contain his life to a 110 minute film. As a result of this, the story is told in a somewhat fragmented manner. It's basically an episodic series of vignettes connected by Vincent's continual journey of discovery in regards to the poor of Paris. His constant humility and his insistence that he has not done nearly as much for the poor as he should is, naturally, quite inspiring. His work seems unending and, indeed, his message of social concern for the poor and needy feels just as resonant today as it must have in 1947.

     Pierre Fresnay is great as Vincent De Paul. He really channels the saints simplicity, unassuming manner, and seemingly endless concern for the poor. In many scenes he seems to stare into your soul. There's one scene in particular, near the end of the film, that's almost chilling. Vincent is sitting with Queen Anne, expressing his regret over his live's failures. "I haven't accomplished anything." he tells her. What is one supposed to do in life, then, to accomplish something?" she asks. He replies simply, "More." We see Vincent age over the course of some forty eight years throughout the film and Fresnay, aided by some great makeup, really sells the effect, showing more and more signs of physical deterioration as the film progresses.

     From the very beginning, I was impressed by the stark simplicity of the film, a simplicity that evokes the spirituality of the saint himself. Maurice Cloche and his cinematographer, Claude Renoir, uses long takes and and deep focus photography to draw the viewer in and allow them to get a good look at the poverty and suffering that the saint went to such great lengths to alleviate. The score, by renown French organist Jean-Jacques Grunenwald, recalls Georges Delerue's soundtrack for A Man for all Seasons, in that both evoke Renaissance era music. It's a pretty good score and one that Cloche makes minimal use of, preferring to let ambient sound accompany the proceedings much of the time.

     Though somewhat fragmented in its pacing, Monsieur Vincent remains a compelling film one which tackles issues of charity and concern for the poor whilst also painting a picture of one of France's most influential saints.

Score: 9/10