Thomas the Impostor

1965 French film

Thomas the Impostor

Directed by| Georges Franju
Screenplay by|

* Jean Cocteau
* Michel Worms
* Georges Franju[2]

Based on| A novel
by Jean Cocteau[2]
Produced by| Eugene Lepicier[2]
Starring|

* Emmanuele Riva
* Fabrice Rouleau
* Jean Servais

Cinematography| Marcel Fradetal[2]
Edited by| Gilbert Natot[2]
Music by| Georges Auric[2]

Production
company

Filmel[2]

Distributed by| Compagnie Commerciale Française Cinématographique (CCFC)

Release date

* 5 May 1965 (1965-05-05) (France)

Running time

| 93 minutes[2]
Country| France[1][2]
Language| French

Thomas the Impostor (French: Thomas l'imposteur) is a 1965 French drama film directed by Georges Franju and starring Emmanuelle Riva, Fabrice Rouleau, Sophie Dares, Jean Marais and Charles Aznavour. It is based on a novel of the same name by Jean Cocteau.

## Plot

[edit]

The film is set during World War I, as Paris is expected to fall to the Germans. The Princesse de Bormes, a widow, helps wounded soldiers by evacuating them from the front and bringing them to her villa in Paris for medical care. However, the authorities will not give the Princess and the soldiers passes to return to Paris. The situation changes when an innocent 16-year-old boy, Guillaume Thomas de Fontenoy, joins the authorities and is mistaken as the nephew of the popular General de Fontenoy. Thomas is able to use his position of posing as the general's nephew to cut through the red tape, in order to help the Princess. She is entranced by Thomas, and her daughter, Henriette, falls in love with him. However, Thomas feels impelled to see more war action. Later, he is caught behind enemy lines when he is moved with a military unit into the heat of battle.

## Cast

[edit]

* Emmanuelle Riva – Princesse de Bormes
* Jean Servais – Pasquel-Duport
* Fabrice Rouleau – Guillaume Thomas de Fontenoy
* Sophie Darès – Henriette
* Michel Vitold – Dr. Vernes
* Charles Aznavour
* Jean-Roger Caussimon – Bishop
* Edouard Dermithe – Captain Roy
* Hélène Dieudonné – Thomas' aunt
* Gabrielle Dorziat – Cartomancienne
* Bernard Lavalette – Dr. Gentil
* Jean Magis – Pagot
* Jean Marais – Narrator (voice)
* André Méliès – Elderly man at the ball
* Jean Ozenne
* Christian Scheyder – Young priest
* Édith Scob – Nurse
* Rosy Varte – Mme. Valiche

## Release

[edit]

Thomas the Impostor was released in France on 5 May 1965.[1]

## Reception

[edit]

In a contemporary review from the Monthly Film Bulletin, it was noted that the film treated war as "fantasy" with Franju's film as being an "almost fairy-tale fantasy of figures moving in a mystical land where everything seems predetermined" and noted that "Emmanuele Riva gives a hauntingly beautiful performance as the Princess, and Fabrice Rouleau looks exactly right as Thomas; and the commentary, finely spoken by Jean Marais, is for once in accord with the images and mood of the film."[2] The review concluded that "Franju has captured the spirit of Cocteau's novel, the point at which the surface glamour of war becomes the awful reality of its suffering."[2]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Thomas l'imposteur (1964) Georges Franju" (in French). films.bifi.fr. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k D.W. (April 1966). "Thomas L'Imposteur (Thomas the Imposter) France, 1964". Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 33, no. 387\. British Film Institute. p. 57.

## External links

[edit]

* Thomas l'imposteur at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Georges Franju

Documentary films|

* Blood of the Beasts (1949)
* Hotel des Invalides (1951)
* Le Grand Méliès (1952)

Feature films|

* Head Against the Wall (1958)
* Eyes Without a Face (1960)
* Thérèse Desqueyroux (1962)
* Judex (1963)
* Thomas the Impostor (1965)
* The Demise of Father Mouret (1970)
* Nuits Rouges (1974)

* v
* t
* e

Jean Cocteau

Bibliography

Drama|

* Le Gendarme incompris (1921)
* Orpheus (1926)
* The Human Voice (1930)
* The Infernal Machine (1934)
* L'École des veuves (1936)
* Les Chevaliers de la Table ronde (1937)
* Les Parents terribles (1938)
* Les Monstres sacrés (1940)
* La Machine à écrire (1941)
* Renaud et Armide (1943)
* L'Aigle à deux têtes (1946)
* Bacchus (1951)

Prose|

* The White Paper (1928)
* Les Enfants terribles (1929)
* Opium: Diary of a Cure (1930)

Films written
and directed|

* The Blood of a Poet (1932)
* Beauty and the Beast (1946)
* The Eagle with Two Heads (1948)
* Les Parents terribles (1948)
* Orpheus (1950)
* La Villa Santo-Sospir (1952)
* Testament of Orpheus (1960)

Films written|

* The Phantom Baron (1943)
* L'Éternel retour (1943)
* Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (1945)
* Ruy Blas (1948)
* Les Enfants terribles (1950)
* The Black Crown (1951)
* La Princesse de Clèves (1961)
* Thomas the Impostor (1965)

Ballet libretti|

* Le Dieu bleu (1912)
* Parade (1917)
* Le Bœuf sur le toit (1920)
* Les Mariés de la tour Eiffel (1921)
* Le Train Bleu (1924)
* Le jeune homme et la mort (1946)

Opera libretti|

* Antigone (1927)
* Oedipus rex (1927)
* Le Pauvre Matelot (1927)

Related|

* Bastion Museum
* Jean Cocteau: A Life
* Jean Cocteau House
* Jean Cocteau Museum
* Jean Marais
* Notre-Dame-de-Jérusalem, Fréjus
* The Orphic Trilogy

This article related to a French film of the 1960s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

|

* v
* t
* e

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template