Nelson Henricks

“La fête à Henriette”, Julien Duvivier, 107 minutes (1952) — We were looking for something light and entertaining and took a risk on this French comedy. It turned out to be surprisingly funny and clever. The conceit is that the film is being made as you watch it. Two unnamed screenwriters narrate the action as it occurs, but they have competing visions of the final product, so the film veers between being a simple love story and a bracing crime drama, with characters changing names, personalities, and motivations as the story progresses. I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite like this. By the time the credits roll, everything solidifies: the script the two writers are writing has already been made into a film — the one that you just finished watching — and the divergent narratives converge in a surprisingly touching way. An added bonus was seeing so many well-known locations in Paris as they were 75 years ago. Viewed on @criterionchannel