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Good start, but then it gets ruined

Absolutely Fantastic

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

There's not an awful lot that's credible in Truffaut's re-writing of William Irish's plotty thriller. The attractive leads, the mise-en-scene and the location carry interest for about half of the film, by which time it just becomes silly. I'm not sure what Truffaut intended, because from the start Monsieur Belmondo does not convince that he's a man who's spent his life on Reunion Isalnd, running a cigarette factory. Even less convincing is Mlle Deneuve as an ex-reform school adventuress - perfectly groomed with Yves St Laurent outfits, her delicate skin and unemotional expressions. Much of the potentially intriguing plot is told instead of shown; there are ludicrous coincidences and character transformations, and a central relationship that's uninteresting. Nevertheless there are sequences which have that good old Truffaut oomph; and sequences which have that bad old Truffaut pfft. Camera work and music are splendid.

I didn't like this much because I couldn't respect the protagonist.Jean-Paul Belmondo has an incredible mug, somewhat of a hybrid of early Brando and Sylvester Stallone. However, his character seems to suffer from either profound mental retardation or suicidal denial.First Marion (Catherine Deneuve) rips him off for 28 million francs. Then he kills a PI to protect her from the cops and must go on the lam. Then his lady love tries to poison him with strychnine. Yet he still finds her adorable. And he doesn't question this because true amour is "difficult."Oh, give me a friggin' break! I'm surprised so exalted a director as Truffaut took this claptrap seriously.I read on Wikipedia that this is one of only three films ever shot in Reunion, a French overseas department off the eastern coast of Africa. I did enjoy some of the tropical scenes. But the characterizations in this film are insulting to anyone of normal intelligence. (Why, why, why would a gumshoe have been so trusting as to confront a shady customer in so confined a space? What WAS he thinking?) Given all the talent in this film, I'm surprised it was so dumb.

On the surface, Francois Truffaut's Mississippi Mermaid is a taut, well- made Hitchcockian thriller that features good looking actors (including the alluring, icy blonde), exciting chases and bizarre circumstances. However, Truffaut gives the story his own twist by focusing on the characteristic of obsession and how it claws at the protagonist and affects his judgment. Jean-Paul Belmondo puts aside his typical suave and cool demeanor to play a wealthy but lonely and somewhat naive tobacco plantation owner who puts in a request for a mail-order bride, only to discover that she looks like Catherine Deneuve. Naturally, he is taken under her spell and soon discovers she is much more duplicitous than he expected. Many film lovers may know this story better as it was remade in 2001 with Antonio Banderas and Angelina Jolie as Original Sin. Despite having not seen that film, I am confident it cannot be better than this version for two reasons. First of all, Truffaut is a much better director, able to seemingly tie all these various strings together into a coherent and plausible story. Second, there is no way Banderas and Jolie could match the sizzling chemistry between Belmondo and Deneuve. They are capable of being remarkably sexy and sultry without resorting to complete nakedness. This is a sign of true thespian abilities. While not one of Truffaut's stronger works such as his Antoine Doinel series or Jules and Jim, it is still an entertaining romantic thriller that manages to be both romantic and thrilling. Given the status of many of these types of films recently, there is plenty of reason to revisit this New Wave example.

In Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, the owner of a cigarette factory Louis Mahé (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is engaged through correspondence with Julie Roussel and he does not know her. When Julie arrives in the island to get married with Louis, he waits for her in the docks but Louis does not recognize Julie in the passenger vessel and finds that she is totally different from the picture she had sent to Louis. They get married and Louis shares his bank accounts with her. When Julie's sister writes a letter to Louis asking her sister to write to her, Louis discovers that the woman is not Julie that is missing. Further, he finds that the woman has cleared his bank accounts and left the island. Louis and Julie's sister hire an efficient private detective Comolli (Michel Bouquet) and Louis travels to France seeking the woman, but he has a nervous breakdown in Nice and is submitted to an intense sleeping therapy in a clinic. He recovers and finds that the woman, actually Marion Vergano (Catherine Deneuve), works in the Phoenix Club Privé in Antibes and lives in the low-budget Monorail Hotel. Louis breaks in her room and when she arrives from the club, she tells that she was happy with him but her former dangerous lover Richard had blackmailed her. Louis is still in love with Marion and escapes with her to the countryside. But Comolli is chasing Marion in France accused of murdering Julie."La Sirène du Mississipi" is a film-noir by the great director/writer François Truffaut, with an unconventional love story of passion, murder and love that hurts. The femme fatale Catherine Deneuve is astonishing, probably in the top of her beauty and is delightful to see her face and the topless scenes on the road and in the room. Jean-Paul Belmondo is very athletic, and the sequence when he escalates the wall of the hotel is impressive. Catherine Deneuve makes this film worth and gives credibility to the passion and lust of Louis. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "A Sereia do Mississipi" ("The Mississippi Mermaid")