Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1965
Thomas the Impostor
Buy Thomas the Impostor now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Thomas the Impostor' is a 1965 French drama film directed by Georges Franju and starring Emmanuelle Riva, Fabrice Rouleau, Sophie Dares, Jean Marais and Charles Aznavour. It is based on a novel of the same name by Jean Cocteau.
Plot
The film is set during World War I, as Paris is expected to fall to the Germans. The Princesse de Bormes, a widow, helps wounded soldiers by evacuating them from the front and bringing them to her villa in Paris for medical care. However, the authorities will not give the Princess and the soldiers passes to return to Paris. The situation changes when an innocent 16-year-old boy, Guillaume Thomas de Fontenoy, joins the authorities and is mistaken as the nephew of the popular General de Fontenoy. Thomas is able to use his position of posing as the general's nephew to cut through the red tape, in order to help the Princess. She is entranced by Thomas, and her daughter, Henriette, falls in love with him. However, Thomas feels impelled to see more war action. Later, he is caught behind enemy lines when he is moved with a military unit into the heat of battle.
Cast
* Emmanuelle Riva Princesse de Bormes
* Jean Servais Pasquel-Duport
* Fabrice Rouleau Guillaume Thomas de Fontenoy
* Sophie Dars Henriette
* Michel Vitold Dr. Vernes
* Charles Aznavour
* Jean-Roger Caussimon Bishop
* Edouard Dermithe Captain Roy
* Hlne Dieudonn Thomas' aunt
* Gabrielle Dorziat Cartomancienne
* Bernard Lavalette Dr. Gentil
* Jean Magis Pagot
* Jean Marais Narrator (voice)
* Andr Mlis Elderly man at the ball
* Jean Ozenne
* Christian Scheyder Young priest
* dith Scob Nurse
* Rosy Varte Mme. Valiche
Release
'Thomas the Impostor' was released in France on 5 May 1965.
Reception
In a contemporary review from the 'Monthly Film Bulletin', noted that film treated war as "fantasy" with Franju's film as being an "almost fairy-tale fantasy of figures moving in a mystical land where everything seems predetermined" and noted that "Emmanuele Riva gives a hauntingly beautiful performance as the Princess, and Fabrice Rouleau looks exactly right as Thomas; and the commentary, finely spoken by Jean Marais, is for once in accord with the images and mood of the film." The review concluded that "Franju has captured the spirit of Cocteau's novel, the point at which the surface glamour of war becomes the awful reality of its suffering."
References
Buy Thomas the Impostor now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1965