“His presence is so strong! The meeting with Alain Delon is unforgettable! » The words of actress Cyrielle Clair set the tone from the start of the film: Alain Delon left no one indifferent, women and men alike! Stunning, magnetic, irresistible… All those who knew him and who testify in this documentary are unanimous. Alain Delon, the actor with devastating charm, has won over several generations of spectators and broken many hearts.
His passionate relationship with women in cinema
This is what the film underlines most forcefully, one of the most striking facets of Delon's career: his unique relationship with women. From his first roles, Delon was surrounded by great actresses. From Romy Schneider, his accomplice and his tragic love, to Mireille Darc, his muse from the 70s, including the many other actresses who shared the screen with him, all testify to the actor's unparalleled aura.
But far from being just physically attractive, the man captivated by the intensity of his game and his intelligence. “He is not as handsome as people say and he is much more interesting than we think,” summarizes Nathalie Delon. Sensitive, highly romantic, both in love and tormented, the film emerges from the delicious archives where Delon and his partners deliver sweet moments of intimacy and complicity, but also scenes where the actor shows a darker side, that of the man alone, caught in his doubts and contradictions.
A fragile and lonely man
If Lassaigne's film pays homage to the legend Delon, it does not just glorify him. He reveals to us a fragile man, tortured by his life choices and his public image. Alain Delon, the giant of cinema, is also a man who suffered: the abandonment of his mother when he was 8 years old, the Indochina war where he experienced the feeling of fear up close, his tumultuous romantic relationships and his mourning. personal… So many events that the film recalls and which provide a new perspective on the man and his character, between shadow and light, full of doubt. A Delon who was sometimes in the background and who, despite his career and his fame, ultimately remained on the sidelines of the great celebrations of his time.
A myth feared by directors
If Delon knew how to captivate spectators and his life and film set partners, he is also, and this is yet another facet of him revealed in this documentary, an actor that certain directors feared. They testify. “We cannot impose acting direction on Delon” confides Jacques Deray, “the technicians were afraid of his reactions” Georges Lautner tells us. Lassaigne highlights the relationship that was both respectful and conflicting that he had with certain directors, between admiration and confrontation.
Alain Delon, between myth and reality
Loved or feared, Alain Delon is described in this film as a more nuanced and human character than he seems. “Alain Delon: The Beauty of the Devil and Women”, an intimate and fascinating portrait of a complex man, where beauty, fragility, and existential questions mingle. A film that manages to capture the essence of a man who remains, even today, one of the greatest myths of French cinema, a legend who in many ways still remains an enigma.
Watch the documentary “Alain Delon, the beauty of the devil and women” Monday December 23 at 5:30 p.m. on Public Senate and in replay ici.
