Madrigal

MADRIGAL is dedicated to René Clair. Why? In 1955, this French director made LES GRANDES MANOEUVRES (SUMMER MANOEUVRES), in which Gérard Philipe plays a young officer who accepts a bet that he can win the heart of Michèle Morgan, who plays the most beautiful and mysterious woman in town. Something that begins as a game for this rakish charmer, soon develops into a full-blown passion on both sides that ends dramatically as soon as the woman learns of the deception. Now genuinely in love with her, Gérard Philipe begs her forgiveness. As a sign of her mercy, she is to leave her window open when he parades past her house. However, the window remains resolutely closed. This is the end of the film as we know it. René Clair in fact had another ending in mind. It was never made because the producers felt it to be too tragic. In his version, a shocked and devastated Michèle Morgan turns on the gas in her room. On discovering her dead body, a servant opens the window. At this moment Gérard Philipe marches past, looks up, and believes his lover has forgiven him ... MADRIGAL preserves this ending in a love story set in modern-day Havana. Fernando Pérez