Jenny (1948)
49KJenny: Directed by William Dieterle. With Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore, Lillian Gish. A mysterious girl inspires a struggling artist.
“Dieterléu0026#39;s film is magic itself.Borrowing from u0026quot;Peter Ibbetson u0026quot; (Hathaway,1935) ,from u0026quot;the portrait of Dorian Grayu0026quot; (Lewin ,1944,the final trick is the same)or from the u0026quot;the Ghost and Mrs Muiru0026quot; (Mankiewicz,1947) ,it succeeds in connecting all the links of the chain .Moreover,Iu0026#39;m almost sure that Richard Matheson saw this movie for its influence on his u0026quot;bid time returnu0026quot; novel (transferred to the screen as u0026quot;Somewhere in timeu0026quot; (1981) ) is obvious.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA painter down on his luck meets a strange girl.Her clothes are old-fashioned and she seems out of nowhere .Dieterlé marvelously creates an offbeat poetic atmosphere.Using urban landscapes,an ominous sky or the stairs in the lighthouse shrouded in a green light,he u0026#39;s got an extraordinary sense of mystery.The cast is ideal:Jennifer Jones was par excellence the romantic heroine (u0026quot;Duel in the sunu0026quot; which was the first time she had played opposite Cotten,u0026quot;Ruby Gentryu0026quot; u0026quot;Madame Bovaryu0026quot; u0026quot;Love is a many -splendored thingu0026quot; ) with an adequate timeless beauty,Joseph Cotten could play everything ,and Lilian Gish made a short but conspicuous appearance as Mother Superior.The Cotten/Jones meeting in the convent could have been mushy and disastrous with any lesser talent:Dieterlé makes it a moving scene ,intimate and grandiose all at once.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWe all live with our past.Some of us would give everything to relive scenes of their past .Einstein told one day that time was the form of his powerlessness while space was the form of his power.Who knows if (and the lines which open the movie open any door) somewhere we are not living in our past,or in our future?”
