Colin's Armand seems tenderness and less passionate
than the role has been interpreted but part of that probably is what the
script calls for-in this script, the softness and devotion seem to be what
attracts Marguerite. (She alludes to this after their first night of lovemaking.)
Colin doesn't get to emote too much at Marguerite's
deathbed scene-unlike the opera where Marguerite and Armand have a whole
act for their deathbed scene. However, there is a scene in which a much
older Colin/Armand is laying flowers at Marguerite's grave (supposed to
be made to look old, but even in the makeup he looks about the grand old
age of 29).
 Trivia |
* The name Camille, commonly used for the story,
is actually a misnomer. According to the introduction to one English translation
of the novel, here's the origin of the error: The first American translator
of the Dumas book in the mid-1800s titled it this way, although there is
no character named Camille in the book. The direct translation of the Dumas
title would be "The Lady of/with the Camellias."
* The scriptwriter, Blanche Hanalis, also did
the script for the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of The Secret Garden
in which Colin had a brief role.
* This role is the only one in which Colin plays
the same character at a much older age.
* Natalie Ogle plays Armand (Colin's) sister.
She played Lydia in the 1970s BBC version of Pride and Prejudice.
*Rachel Kempson is the maternal grandmother of
Natasha Richardson, Colin's co-star in A Month in the Country and
Hostages.
She
is also the mother of Vanessa, Lynn and Corin Redgrave and widow of Sir
Michael Redgrave.
* The Signet Classic novel of Camille (still
available in bookstores in the U.S. in 1999) has production stills from
the TV film in it.
|
Reviews
|
The following is an excerpt from the Christian
Science Monitor review of Camille (certainly one of the least flattering
of any on these pages):
Nothing is so wasted here . . . as the
viewer's time. This soap-operatic version might well have fit in a single
episode of "Days of Our Lives." Instead, it is taffy-pulled into a seemingly
endless two hours-while an annoyingly vapid and repetitive sound track
keeps insistently reminding us that this is a poignant love story. And
a good thing, too. Because neither Greta Scacchi in the title role nor
Colin Firth as Armand seems able to raise the proceedings above the romantic
fervor to be found in your average Close-Up Toothpaste encounter.
December 1984
|
Favorite
Scenes
|
For sheer beauty-
The scene of Colin standing by the window-it's
a wonderfully posed S curve (a classic French style). Poor Armand's upset
and depressed because Marguerite's sick and she hasn't noticed his existence.
For one of the best smiles of true heartfelt
delight in Colin's repertoire--
The scene where he shows the servant the glass
flower he has bought Marguerite for her birthday.
Again for sheer beauty and physical appeal--
The scene in bed with Marguerite where they joke
about his future career.
|
Other
Versions
|
The Book
The book La dame aux camelias, written
by Alexandre Dumas fils (the son of the author of The Three Musketeers)
was published in 1848 and was immediately popular. For example, it was
made into an opera less than five years later (see below). Considered a
social document during its time because it treated the life of a courtesan
of the Parisian demi-monde, it probably strikes the modern reader as sentimental
and a far cry from the realism of its near-contemporary, Flaubert's Madame
Bovary (1857). The novel was a bit of scandal since the person who
seems to act most nobly in it is a prostitute, and the novel was in part
an indictment of the bourgeois morality of the time.
 In
the book, there's a first-person narrator. The narrator encounters Armand
as the result of buying a copy of Manon Lescaut (the classic 18th century
novel about the forbidden love between a fallen woman and a respectable
young man) at the sale of Marguerite's goods. It turns out that Armand
had given it to Marguerite and wants it back as a remembrance.
In the book, Armand returns only after Marguerite
is dead, and on the verge of a nervous breakdown, he aspires only to have
one last glimpse of his dead lover. To achieve this desire, Armand arranges
to have Marguerite's body moved to a better part of the cemetery. The transfer
of the body is described by the first-person narrator:
A great white shroud covered the corpse,
closely outlining some of its contours. This shroud was almost completely
eaten around at one end, and left one of the feet visible. . . . It was
terrible to see, it is horrible to relate. The eyes were nothing but two
holes, the lips had disappeared, and the white teeth were tightly set .
. . yet I recognized in this face the joyous white and rose face
I had seen so often.
After this scene, not surprisingly, Armand
collapses-but he does survive.
Here is the narrator's description of Marguerite
alive:
Set in an oval of indescribable grace,
two black eyes, surmounted by eyebrows of so pure a curve that it seemed
as if painted. . . . The hair black as jet, waving naturally or not, was
parted on the forehead in two large folds and draped over the head, leaving
in sight just the tips of the ears, in which glittered two diamonds, worth
four to five thousand francs each. How it was that her ardent life had
left on Marguerite's face the virginal, almost childlike, expression, which
characterized it, is a problem which we can state but state, without attempting
to solve it. . . ..
Marguerite was always present at every first
night, and passed every evening either at the theatre or a ball. Whenever
there was a new piece, she was certain to be seen, and she invariably had
three things with her on the ledge of her ground-floor box: her opera-glass,
a bag of sweets, and a bouquet of camellia.
For twenty-five days of the month the camellias
were white, and for five they were red; . . . she was never seen with any
flowers but camellias.
The Garbo Film
The story of Marguerite and Armand has been filmed
many times. One of the most famous versions was the 1937 MGM production
with Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor and directed by George Cukor
Philadelphia Story, The Women, Holiday).
The  black-and-white
cinematography is artistic, highlighting Garbo's
magnificent profile and her ethereal costumes.
Garbo is established right at the beginning of
the film as carefree and capricious-buying camellias at a dizzingly pace.
The believability of the film is enhanced by Greta's classic, arresting
beauty and a good performance by Robert Taylor (one of his best performances
in my opinion and who plays a more mature Armand. He is blessed with some
sharper lines and verbal repartee with Marguerite).
Garbo was nominated for an Oscar for this film,
but didn't receive the statue.
The Opera
Verdi's opera, La Traviata, was first performed
at La Fenice in Venice, in 1853, and has become a classic on the opera
stage. I call it the "sing-along" opera as practically all the music is
familiar to anyone with even a casual interest in opera and goes from one
classic song to another-the opening drinking scene (Libiamo ne' lieti calici),
the lovely duet between Violetta and Alfredo in the first act (Un di, felice,
eterea), the father's aria about his home in Provence in the second (Di
Provenza il mar), and one of my favorite duets, Parigi, cara, noi lasceremo,
from the last act, where the couple sing of a vision of a better future
life outside of Paris.
The opera was made into a fairly good film by
Franco Zeffirelli in 1982, with Placido Domingo as Alfredo (the Armand
role) and Teresa Strattas as Violetta (the Marguerite role).
|
Sartorial
Splendor?
|
To accompany his full, loose hairstyle, Armand
wears lightish-color beaver hats, which to me are not the most attractive-give
me the Darcy beaver hats anytime.
 
The tie that he has on seems the most exaggerated
of any that Colin's roles require him to wear. (Looks a bit uncomfortable?)
  
And is the tropical hat the widest brimmed hat
he wears in a film?
And isn't the Russian hat one of the silliest?
|
Ratings
|
These ratings are from members of the Friends
of Firth group.
They are on a scale from one to 10 (10 is the
highest):
| Film overall: |
5.1
|
| Colin's acting in the film |
7.0
|
| Colin's looks in the film: |
8.5
|
| Rewind factor*: |
6.3
|
* which translates,
into how often do you feel
compelled to rewatch the films or scenes
Janet's personal ratings;
Film Overall
A rather poor film with little to redeem it but
not so much to offend |
6.8 |
Colin's Acting
Definitely not a high point in Colin's career |
7.4 |
Colin's looks
His boyishness and loose hair are appealing |
9 |
Rewind factor
Mostly because of the looks category above |
8.2 |
|
Credits
|
Compiled and written by Janet
Designed and HTMLed by Meluchie
Snappies* by Sharon
Edited by Francoise
* Other photos from Signet edition
of Camille, Roadshow (Japan.) and TV Guide (US). Garbo Camille lobby card
courtesy of Bunster.
| Links |
|
Marguerite
Gautier (Greta Scacchi) is a beautiful young woman who lives the high life
as a kept woman in the Parisian demi-monde, keeping company with aristocrats
and the monied men. Armand Duval (Colin Firth), from a middle class family,
crosses her path and falls hopelessly in love. Marguerite, obviously attracted
by his devotion and his desire to care for her, abandons herself to him.
And the lovers go off to the countryside-leaving the world behind them,
at least temporarily. Confronted by Armand's father and asked to give Armand
up in the young man's best interests, Marguerite makes the ultimate sacrifice
and abandons Armand, leading him to believe that she is going back to her
former lifestyle and lovers. Feeling crushed and betrayed, Armand returns
home to his father.
basically
a melodramatic novel for modern audiences: we see Marguerite in an opening
sequence, being abused by her father and then leaving for Paris. This attempt
to explore Marguerite's motivation may actually be a detriment; see the
discussion of Garbo's Camille, whose character is established as light
and capricious at the very beginning. And we also see a bit of her
story before she meets Armand-she becomes the lover and model for a painter
to escape starvation on the streets of Paris and is taken under the protection
of a rich duke (John Gielgud), whose dead daughter she resembles. She even
accidentally runs into Armand on the street but neither remembers the encounter!
Unlike
the 1937 movie with Greta Garbo, which is so discrete and hemmed in by
screen codes of the 1930s, this film actually shows the lovers in bed in
a couple of scenes! An early bed scene suggests that Marguerite finds Armand
both emotionally and physically satisfying.
